New Soil
by PuffleMuffin
Summary: Flynn Wylde is violently torn from his body on Earth after a tragic car accident kills the young twenty-one-year-old college student. Miraculously, Flynn wakes up in an empty alleyway in a city he's never visited before - Definitely a long way away from his home in Minnesota. What's more, he's suddenly covered in orange fur! How the hell does that work?
1. Chapter 1: Deadly Roads

**Chapter 1**

 **Deadly Roads**

 _Enjoy!_

* * *

The sound of muffled pop music emitting from the large white house could be heard through Flynn Wylde's closed car windows. His grey 2008 Pontiac sat quietly in the paved driveway while he waited patiently in the driver's seat. His phone screen illuminated his face inside the dark interior of the vehicle, his forward spiked brown hair and blue eyes reflecting white light from the device as he stared down at his recent text messages.

 _[12:01]_

Me: Luke, I'm outside.

Lucas: Ok.

Me: In the driveway.

 _[12:10]_

Me: 'Mere

 _[12:15]_

Me: Dude! Where the hell are you?

Lucas: Wait.

 _[12:22]_

Me: FU.

Lucas: Coming.

Flynn groaned as he checked the time once more on his phones digital clock. He lifted a single, and rude, finger into the air from inside his car towards the large house as he realized he had been sitting in his car for nearly half an hour. His brow lifted as he noticed a familiar shape stumble out from the front door of the house, a red solo cup held loosely in the figure's hand.

"Finally!" Flynn blurted out to no one as he saw Lucas standing outside, but quickly frowned as he saw a flirtatious sophomore grab his friend's wrist and pull him into a kiss. He watched as Lucas happily returned the affectionate action with the younger girl for what seemed an infinite number of seconds before he slammed his palm onto his car horn.

Flynn chuckled as the loud horn caused both Lucas and his apparent-new-girlfriend to jump into the air and stumble back a few steps. Just by those few steps, he knew his friend was as drunk as a sailor and he shook his head at the thought of driving this lunatic back to the dorms.

He crossed his arms and waited impatiently as Lucas wiggled his hand in an intoxicated wave to the girl before doing his best to walk over to the car. Flynn turned the keys in the ignition and stuffed his phone into his front pocket as the car sparked to life, it's yellow headlights spreading light across the front of the house.

Lucas had dropped his cup a few feet into his journey to the driveway, but he was now lurching towards the passenger door. His uncoordinated fingers unable to find a grip on the handle, so Flynn reached over and pulled the door handle open from the inside.

Flynn shuffled back into his seat and stared his friend down as he basically fell into the car. "Luke! Damn dude, I've been here for half an hour!"

Luke raised a curious brow towards Flynn, raising a pointer finger in the air with a drooping smile. "What? It's only been... Like... Five minutes."

"Five minutes! I texted you I was here at midnight!" Flynn shifted the car into reverse as Luke closed the passenger door.

"What? Oh. My bad dude. Ha!" Luke wiggled around in his seat, his eyes drooping as he sunk into his drunken state even more. "Where's my cup?"

Flynn exhaled a large breath in annoyment as he pulled out into the empty street, ready to get back to his dorm room and sleep. "You dropped it outside."

"Awww, fuck man... Can we go back and get it?" Luke began to poke at the handle of the car door, but Flynn quickly locked all of the doors.

"No! Luke, we're going home and I'm gonna crash! I've got a midterm test tomorrow for Calculus and I want to get at least a few hours of sleep before I fail it."

"Pfft, sucks to suck."

"You can walk home."

"Man! Hell no."

"Then quit talking."

"That's what she said..."

Flynn had to laugh a little bit at his friend. Even when Luke was drunk, their conversations always held some kind of humor. "You would know. I bet you've got every STD in the alphabet."

Luke tilted his head and glared at Flynn, the smell of alcohol pouring from his mouth."That... Ugh, it doesn't make even any sense..."

"Whatever."

Flynn came to a stop at a stoplight, the bright red light above him bouncing off of the hood of his car and painting their faces a pale pink color. Luke's words had turned into angry mumbles as he dozed off in his seat, giving Flynn a few moments of silence.

The light turned green and he accelerated out of the intersection, enjoying the quiet rev of his car's engine as he got up to steady forty miles-per-hour. He drove in the left lane, watching as cars driving in the opposite direction zoomed past on the four-lane road. He could see the large headlights of a semi-truck up ahead, the blinding white lights making it difficult to see the yellow lines in front of him. Flynn had driven this road many times before, so this scenario usually never bothered him.

At that moment, Luke decided to jerk awake, his eyes wide open as he leaned forward violently in his seat. His seatbelt kept him from hitting the dashboard while he stared out at the headlights of the semi-truck. "Flynn!"

Flynn's brows raised as he glanced over to Luke quizzically. "Yeah?" Lucas was now pushing his hands against the glovebox.

"You're... You're gonna hit that car! Turn away!" Lucas screamed out his slurred sentence while at the same time leaning over to the driver's side of the car. "Turn away!"

Flynn's eyes widened in surprise as he used one hand to push his friend away while doing his best to keep his eyes on the road. "Luke! We're fine! Quit it!"

Luke suddenly reached for the steering wheel, gripping the closest side and pulling it towards him. "Turn away!"

Flynn quickly slapped his friend's hand's away from the steering wheel, but watched in horror as his car turned violently into the occupied right lane.

"Fuck!" He couldn't do anything but turn the wheel to the right and away from the white truck beside him, but his efforts failed as the hood of his car slammed into the bed of the truck, smashing the right light and sending both him and Lucas back left and into the opposing lane of traffic.

"Flynn!" Luke screamed out as the front of the car veered out in front of the oncoming semi-truck, it's lights blinding Flynn as he desperately tried to steer his vehicle away.

He managed to turn Luke's side of the car out of the way of the larger vehicle but was unable to pull his car away from the lane completely as the Semi, the driver obviously distracted, cruised at high speed at the driver side of the Pontiac.

"Oh God, no!" Flynn was barely able to finish his sentence and close his eyes before the Semi-truck collided violently with Flynn's side of the car, crushing the metal frame with ease. The sound of metal being crunched, tires skidding across pavement, a drunken yell from Lucas, and a volley of car horns filled his ears as the car flipped onto its side and slid into what was supposed to be the car's correct lane.

A searing pain filled Flynn's entire body as his head slammed into the window and the car bent around him. He yelled out in agony as he felt his arm scrape against the pavement as his window shattered over his body and blood poured from the many cuts he received. The car eventually came to a stop as it bumped into a stopped mini-van.

Flynn tried to open his eyes, but they felt welded shut and his body felt as if it were on fire. He knew his leg wasn't supposed to bend in the way it was now and he could feel blood clogging up his clothes and throat. He coughed, blood dripping from his mouth. He could hear Luke screaming his name, but he seemed so far away. Everything was getting quieter, duller. The pain was easing away too, maybe it was a dream?

Flynn tried to speak back, but he couldn't breathe and his voice was replaced by an ugly gurgle. The realization suddenly dawned on him that he must be dying and he began to desperately try to fight against it. He couldn't cry out, but he tried to. His eyes were still sealed shut and his body seemed locked into it's broken and uncomfortable place. He began to whimper and cough as Luke's cries for help and echoed in his ears.

His lungs felt as if they were collapsing in on themselves and it didn't help that he could feel shards of glass peeling his skin. He couldn't tell if blood or tears were dripping down his face as his friend's voice continued to fade, now faster than before.

 _I can't die. I don't wanna die. No! Fuck! Help!_

He could barely hear the distant sound of sirens in the back of his head as Lucas's voice finally faded away, leaving him alone with his pain and blood. His thoughts were soon clouded and only the thought of wanting the pain to end filled his brain. Soon, his wish came true and the pain dissipated and he was left in a dull abyss of emptiness. No light, no sound, and no pain. The feeling was disgusting.

 _God, please..._

Flynn thought silently as his thoughts began to slip away as well, the voice in his head getting softer and weaker.

It felt like an eternity to Flynn, somehow he could comprehend time, but miraculously, he began to hear the sounds of a bustling city, the sound of sirens returning to his ears. The sounds were faint at first, but they began to rise at an exponential rate until the noise was unbearable. He wanted to scream out and push away the ear-splitting noises, but all he could do was listen.

Without warning, all of his senses, except the pain, returned to him. He felt loose gravel under his back and a fresh breeze brushing against his face.

Flynn quickly sat up, gasping for breath as the functionality of his lungs returned to him. His eyes shot open to reveal a cluttered alleyway filled with large trash bins and foul-smelling trash bags. The blurry outline of a city filled the space ahead along with a busy road close by. His hand clung to his chest, rubbing against his body in disbelief and shock.

 _Am I alive?_

Flynn glanced down at himself, his eyes widening in confusion. "I am alive!"

But there was something different. He didn't remember wearing a fur jacket. Why the hell would he have one on now?

He tried to stand up, but something held him to the ground, jerking him back into a sitting position against the back wall of the alley. "Wait, what?"

He glanced down beside him to see an orange and white tail underneath his foot. Or. . . Paw?

"What the hell!" Flynn jumped up to a standing position, plucking at his clothing as he stared down at his unrecognizable body. He saw that he was wearing a plain white T-shirt and khaki jeans, but he didn't have shoes on. Somehow, his feet had been replaced with paws, along with his hands. He stared in utter disbelief at his arms now covered in a soft orange layer of fur.

"What am I? This can't be real. Is this heaven? Why do I feel short?" Flynn spoke his questions out loud, relief spiking through his heart as he realized his voice was still the same. He lifted his paws to his face, his jaw dropping open in astonishment as he felt the same fur on his face. His face felt different; as if nose and jaw had expended out from his head. He crossed his eyes and was surprised to see what looked to be a grey-orange muzzle where his nose used to be. His new nose was now out a few inches from his face and was entirely black.

"I need a mirror!" Flynn began to shuffle around the alley, scavenging for anything he could use to see his reflection. He came to a stop as he felt something bounce around his pocket and he raised a brow down at his pants in confusion. He stuffed his hand... Paw, into his pocket and pulled out his phone. "Ahah!" He couldn't help but smile and jump up in success at his discovery. Without looking into the black reflection of the dead screen, he quickly opened the device and opened up the quick camera option with a swipe to the left.

He nearly dropped his phone at what he saw. His phone screen didn't show his usual face, but instead, his face had been replaced with that of a fox. Orange fur covered his entire face and his mouth had turned into a muzzle. His ears now perked high above his head and his blue eyes were held wide in both shock and denial.

"This can't be real?" He watched as his muzzle formed his words and his brows pinned together. "How?"

He flicked his ears experimentally, his jaw dropping open once again in disbelief. He felt something soft brush against his heels and he glanced behind his back to see a tail hanging out from his pants. "A tail? You've gotta be kidding me?"

He wagged it cautiously, unconsciously pinning his ears to his head as he did so.

 _Where the heck am I?_

Flynn turned to stare out at the alley's exit as curiosity consumed him like a disease. He began to shuffle forward, a hint of caution nagging in his mind. He stepped out from the alley onto a crisply paved sidewalk, staring out at the world in front of him.

"Un-fuckin'-believable..." He muttered quietly as his eyes stared in awe at the city ahead. The skyscrapers seemed unreal as they towered thousands of feet into the air, their architecture a work of art as they spiraled and expanded into the sky. Some were covered in huge screens as advertisements for concerts, food, and business flashed brightly along the pixilated walls.

Something else caught Flynn's eye as well. All of the people were no longer... People. They were animals! Standing on two paws, talking on cell phones, wearing clothes, and driving cars. it was unbelievable. The sound of the city filled his sensitive ears. Car horns, mixed voices, music, trains, and laughter all bombarded his new body like a barrage bullets.

"I must be stoned out of my mind right now... Is this what it's like to be stoned?" Flynn questioned himself as his attention was quickly brought back up to the biggest TV screen on one of the largest, and most colorful, skyscrapers in the area. A slim Gazelle with a red top and skirt had become the main subject of the screen and Flynn only caught the last few words that came out of the animal's mouth.

"And welcome to Zootopia!"

Flynn stared at the Gazelle in total confusion. "Zootopia? The hell is that.." He lowered his gaze to stare at all of the mammals surrounding him, the name of the city suddenly clicking in his head. (Not that he recognized the name, but he realized something else.)

"It's a Goddamn pun! Fuck my life..."

* * *

 _That's it! Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I just wanted something else to write to get myself off of my writer's block for my other story. But now that I've written this first chapter, I'm probably gonna try to further this story as much as I can. If you'd like, go check out my other fanfiction, **Recollection**. I'm not going to abandon that story, but I will be furthering both of these plots simultaneously. This just gives me more options to write about._

 _Thanks again and have a good one!_


	2. Chapter 2: High on Confusion

**Chapter 2**

 **High on Confusion**

* * *

Flynn was dumbstruck. He had no clue what the next step should be. His mouth hung slightly open, his shoulders drooped, his eyes were held wide, and his tail hung limply behind him as he stared in complete and total confusion at the giant ass Gazelle on the giant ass TV screen. The city was incredibly large!

How was he supposed to get home? He knew he couldn't be dead. This couldn't be heaven and it sure as hell wasn't hell. Or maybe it was?

To sum it up, Flynn looked as if he had taken a handful LSD wrapped in a Cocaine pancake.

He was snapped out of his daze when a Pig, or at least Flynn thought it was a Pig, dressed in slightly worn blue-jeans and tan-grey flannel T-shirt stopped in front of him with a puzzled expression. "Hey, Fox! You good?" The pig's dark blue eyes scanned Flynn up and down while crossed his arms over his chest.

At first, Flynn didn't realize that the pink mammal was directing the sentence towards him and he stared back at the pig with a raised brow. "Me?" He slowly pointed a thumb back at his chest while involuntarily flattening his ears against his head.

The Pig snorted in annoyance, raising a hoove in the air. "Of course you! You see any other foxes around here?" The Pig outstretched his arms in a silent, "Duh", before resting them on his hips with a distasteful shake of his head.

"Oh! Yeah! Yup. I'm good. I am... I'm fantastic." Flynn rambled as he also crossed his arms and nodded repeatedly.

 _This is unbelievable... A talking pig._ Flynn thought as he inspected the chubby animal.

"Uh, are you good?" Flynn asked as he raised a brow at the Hog and leaned slightly forward with his question.

The Pig frowned, obviously not finding Flynn's response amusing, and groaned, "Whatever, pal." Flynn watched as the pig turned around and waddled away in the direction he was heading before, joining the rest of the pedestrian mammals on the sidewalk.

 _He seemed nice._ He thought sarcastically to himself as he stood back straight and watched the Pig until he vanished into a crowd of mammals migrating across a crosswalk.

 _And they speak English!_ He shook his head in dumbfounded bewilderment.

He took another glance down at his body, eyeing his paws and feet curiously.

 _At least I'm not a mouse..._ He wiggled his fingers, inspecting them closely as he noticed small claws protruding from the tips. His stomach growled, stealing his attention away from his paws.

He gently rubbed a paw on his stomach, suddenly feeling the aching pain of hunger bubble inside of his gut. "What can a guy get to eat around here?" He muttered to himself as he glanced back up at the skyscrapers of Zootopia.

Flynn sighed. As much as he didn't want to, he knew he would have to venture out into the concrete, and wonderfully colorful, jungle sometime in the near future.

 _Shoot, do I have any money? Does this place have a currency?_

Flynn began to dig in his pockets, sticking his tongue out slightly as he concentrated on finding his wallet. His eyes brightened up as he felt a smooth rubbery object in his left pocket and he quickly lifted it out. Surprisingly, it was **his** wallet, the wallet he had had with him during the crash.

It was made out of a black leathery material and had held his license, a few gift cards, and at least twenty bucks cash - but that was back home. He hurriedly opened it, using his unfamiliar fingers to unfold the sides.

A wave of quiet relief splashed over him as he saw a few bills inside the pouch, and although they looked similar, they weren't American currency. He also noticed that his License was also still inside of his wallet. He pinched the top end and pulled it out of it's designated fold.

He frowned. The picture wasn't of his familiar human self. It was a cheery orange Fox with a wide smile and perked ears. He seemed a little too happy to be getting his picture taken at the DMV.

He slowly read through the information on the front, raising a brow at what he read. His name, birthdate, age, sex, signature, and class of license were the same, but his weight, height, and address were changed. For starters, his license didn't even have an address listed below his name.

Flynn groaned inwardly. _Awesome. I'm homeless._

His weight had been changed from one-hundred-seventy-five pounds down to eighty-two pounds, a drastic change. His height had been also been changed to four feet and one inch, another large difference from his previous six-foot height.

Flynn stared at the photo, realizing that the picture was of him and how he looked in this world or afterlife. Somehow, everything he had had about his identity had been changed to match what he was now; a four-foot, eighty-two pound, twenty-one-year-old, male Fox - A Tod.

"This just gets stranger by the minute." He stuffed his license back in his wallet and began to dig for any gift cards.

He found a ten dollar card for a place called "Buck's Coffee", he inferred it was a knock-off of Starbucks. His other gift card was for a larger store, Targoat. Another pun.

Flynn never liked Starbucks, but he decided that this, "Buck's Coffee" could be completely different. It didn't matter anyway, he would eat anything right now.

He quickly stuffed his wallet back in his pocket, taking a quick glance back at the empty alleyway he had woken up in. He sighed quietly as he turned back to look at the dauntingly large city ahead of him.

"This is one kick-ass coma." Flynn joked to himself, mostly to get rid of his small flow of uneasy adrenaline, before he casually stepped onto the sun-heated sidewalk and into a gap in the crowd of talking mammals of a plethora of species.

He quickly joined the flow of walking traffic, merging onto the right side of the sidewalk and taking a hard right to travel in the correct direction. Trying to be as casual as possible, Flynn stuffed his paws into his pockets, held his head upright and let his eyes explore the buildings around him.

He noticed that he was surrounded by a large plot of apartments all crammed together along both sides of the street. The sky was a clear blue without a single cloud in the sky. The sun reflected off of every window, making the city shine in a spectacular array of color and light.

Flynn was so caught up in observing his surroundings that he didn't realize the mammals ahead of him had come to a stop at an overflowing crosswalk. He grunted as he accidentally collided into the back of a larger yellow-ish tan mammal that towered more than four feet above his head.

Flynn's brows both raised in surprise as he tilted his head back to match the gaze of the Lion that was now staring down at him with an annoyed glare.

He apologetically raised both paws above his head and smiled innocently at the larger mammal. "Oh, sorry. My bad."

The lion only huffed in return, waving a large dismissing paw towards Flynn before raising his gaze back to the crosswalk.

The walk symbol turned on and the mob of animals gradually shifted from their places to cross the street.

After that encounter, Flynn made sure to walk a bit more carefully as he continued his journey. It took him nearly forty minutes before he was able to find a "Buck's Coffee." Luckily for him, it was a well-advertised shop and noticing its location was easier than he thought it would've been.

The building was a soft brown with lines of mint green bordering the full wall windows. A large white, "Buck's Coffee" sign was connected above the glass double doors where Flynn now stood. He could see a few mammals inside, both predators and their prey together. He even noticed another Fox sitting alone with a purple-eyed bunny, both in casual clothing - An unusual combination.

He pulled open the doors and slithered inside the fresh air-conditioned building, nodding in approval at the place's simple and spacey layout. He smiled to himself as he saw there was no line at the cash register and he hungrily shuffled over to the front counter, digging his paw into his pocket to retrieve his wallet.

A smiling Doe met him at the register in a brown, short-sleeved uniform and hat. Her hooves rested on the countertop as she greeted him with a nod. "Hello! What can I get for you today, sir?"

Flynn lifted his wallet out of his pocket before freezing in his place. "Oh! Uh, do you guys have any..." He lowered his paw onto the granite countertop, tapping his fingers idly in thought for a few moments.

 _Did Starbucks have bagels?_

"Bagels? Do you guys have bagels?" He stopped tapping his fingers and placed his palm flat on the counter.

The Doe's smile somehow widened as she nodded. "Yup! What kind of bagel would you like?"

 _Shoot._

"Ah, uh..." He paused once again, noticing a small black paper menu protruding from a stack of brochures. He winced, trying to focus on the tiny letters.

"Gimme a minute... I've never been here before."

His eyes scanned the menu as fast as he could, nodding slowly as he saw a small picture of a bagel followed by crisp white text.

Flynn's focus was interrupted by a small agitated sigh from behind. "Hurry it up, please!"

He placed his finger on the menu, holding bagel's place on the paper for future reference as he turned half of his body around to see who had let out the complaint.

A Racoon dressed in tight jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt stood with its arms crossed and a sassy brow raised. It reminded him of a strange girl back in his Political Sciences class at his University. Flynn tilted his head at the mammal, ready for a quick comeback.

"Give me a second. Cool your titties and relax."

The Racoon's eyes widened, its arms falling to its sides. It had obviously been offended by something Flynn had said.

"I'm a male!"

Flynn shrugged before turning around to look at his menu. "Guys can have titties too."

He chuckled as he heard the Racoon growl and mutter quietly to himself, obviously trying to contain his anger. He noticed the Doe at the register hiding her smile and he lifted his gaze from the menu with a toothy grin.

"Okay! I will have... The..." He quickly glanced back at the menu, selecting the first bagel he saw. "The wheat bagel?" He tapped his finger on the menu, "the first one."

The Doe nodded. "Of course!" She migrated to a separate part of the counter to grab Flynn's order while he grabbed a few dollars cash from his wallet.

"Here you go." The doe set the seemingly plain bagel on a napkin and slid it across the counter into Flynn's waiting paws. "Two-thirty is the charge."

He placed what he thought was three dollars on the counter, making a trade for his food. "Gracias."

The Doe gave him seventy cents in change and Flynn moved out of the way for the steaming Racoon to order. He avoided eye contact the with mammal as he went to find a place to sit.

Flynn secluded himself in the corner of the shop in a table for two. The smooth wooden chair he sat in was a little large for his size, but he didn't mind. He was just happy to get off of his feet for awhile. He began to scarf down his bagel, shoving it into his mouth hungrily as he tried to appease his growling stomach.

Before he knew it, he was staring at an empty napkin with crumbs sticking to the fur on his fingers. He frowned and flattened his ears against his head. This hadn't filled him up at all.

 _It must've been vegan. I bet animals here don't eat other animals._

Flynn's gaze flicked away from his missing meal and took a prolonged glance around him. The Racoon was striding out of the front doors of the shop, pushing his way through the glass doors and into the outside world with a coffee in his paws.

A clock on the wall beside him read "9:01 A.M", everyone must be at work, which explained the small line. Only a few other mammals were currently sitting in the tables around him.

An Arctic Wolf in a plain grey sweatshirt and blue jeans sat alone on a black leather couch with a newspaper, his ice blue eyes scanning over the text quietly. An adorable Otter couple sat together and were chatting happily with the Fox and Bunny Flynn had noticed earlier, all in casual attire, their occasional laughter echoed through the calm building.

The Bunny wore a plain blue T-Shirt and blue jeans while the Fox wore a warm colored, patterned collared T-shirt and khaki pants. One Otter had glasses and a small green vest and the other wore a purple undershirt with a thin sleeved purple jacket.

A Male black panther dressed in a white collared shirt and khaki jeans sat with a dorky smile across from a female of the same species wearing short-shorts and an appropriately lengthed yellow top.

"Damn." Flynn looked back down at his paws, a daunting realization dawning on him.

 _I'm completely alone here._

He flicked his ears involuntarily as he stuffed his paw into his pockets, pulling out his phone and opening it. He raised a brow as he saw a well-created image of his beloved snowboard was still set as his background. He swiped open a page of his contacts, his heart dropping as low as his ears as he saw that the list was empty. A grey message, "No contacts available" had replaced all of his friend's and family's phone numbers.

Flynn sighed, the scale of his problems hanging over him like a thick blanket.

 _I'm alone in a giant ass city with no house, friends, family, transportation, extra money, or job._

He groaned and dropped his phone on the table and his head in his paws, letting himself tilt forward into the table. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"

He ran his fingers through his hair... Or fur as he stared at the smooth table in front of his muzzle. His mind was stuck in a blank. He could only think about what he was before the crash, not the future like he wanted to. His focused on swinging his tail, finding the new movement interesting.

 _I wanna go back to college. I'm never picking up Luke again. Maybe I could transfer to central Minnesota? It's probably cheaper there. My car is probably totaled._

"How did even I get into this stupid situation?" He closed his eyes for a few moments, letting his thoughts sink in.

Flynn sat back up straight, staring down at himself. He frowned and began to growl quietly - Slightly surprised at the easily he could create the new sound as it rumbled in the back of his throat.

 _I fucking died, that's how._

Flynn grabbed his phone, frustratedly stuffing the device back into his khaki pockets and abruptly stood up from his seat, accidentally pushing the chair back with an annoying squeal of its legs rubbing on the wood floor.

He felt a few pairs of eyes flicker over to him and he kept his head low to avoid them. He felt out of place. He needed fresh air.

To make his attitude worse, his larger feet rammed into the leg of the table, causing Flynn to curse under his breath as his toe throbbed with an annoying pinch of pain.

"Shit! Goddamnit." He quickly shuffled away from his toe's attacker and towards the shop's front doors, naturally raising a quick look back at the shop. He raised a brow as he met the wide eyes of the Bunny sitting at the table of four as he passed, her ears perked and her nose twitching as she stared at him with a curious expression.

Her purple gaze dug into his and Flynn felt as if she were reading him like a book. The feeling was very uncomfortable. With her long ears, she could have heard everything he had said to himself a few minutes prior.

Flynn quickly tore his gaze away from the Bunny's as he shuffled out of the building, his paws running against his ears and hanging crossed behind his neck as he stepped out into the morning sunlight. He spotted a bench outside of the doors and quickly went to sit down, resting his head back against the backrest with a long sigh.

"This can't be real. This isn't actually happening." He spoke quietly to himself, doubt plaguing his mind as he stared up at the skyscrapers above. He could feel his fluffy tail come to a rest beside him and he glanced down at his new appendage with a skeptical brow.

He flicked it experimentally, watching as it moved at his command. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the backrest.

 _But it sure as hell feels real._

He kept his eyes shut and allowed the sun to soak past his fur to his skin. He took a long but shaky breath as he tilted his head back and tried to relax.

His shoulders drooped back and he let the sound of the strange city around him to fill his ears, nearly putting him to sleep.

Flynn soon became restless, the sleepiness faded, and the sun beginning to make him sweat. He felt his tail begin to brush against left his pocket, which was strange because he thought his tail was resting on the opposite side of his body.

He opened one eye, raising a brow curiously down at his pocket. His jaw shot open and his ears perked in shock as his supposed "tail" was actually the Racoon he had seen earlier trying to slip his claws into his pants to steal his wallet which was nearly slipping out of his pocket.

"Hey! What the hell!" Flynn sat up straight, gripping the Racoon's wrist and violently ripping it out of his pocket. His wallet slipped out with the Racoon's claws and fell onto the pavement below and Flynn made the mistake of glancing down at the rubbery item.

A black fist suddenly appeared below him and it raised in a quick uppercut, slamming into Flynn's eye with a dull crack. His head was launched upwards in a white flash of pain and he cursed as he stumbled back a few unbalanced steps.

"Shit!" He rested a paw on his pulsating face as he watched the Racoon bend down to pick up his wallet from the ground.

"Hey! Drop that!" Flynn dropped his paws and charged forward. He retook his lost steps and dove into the surprised Racoon, football tackling the same sized mammal to the rough concrete. He heard the Racoon grunt below him as Flynn crawled over the striped animal, pressing his paws against his shoulders and pinning him to the ground.

The wallet slipped from the Racoon's paws and tumbled across the pavement a few feet away, but Flynn was too focused to notice that the thief had dropped it. He raised a fist into the air and slammed it down into the Racoon's cheek, making full contact below his eye and slamming his furry head against the sidewalk.

He heard the gasps of a view spectators as they quickly made us much space between themselves and the fight.

He repeated the action, aiming his fist towards the mammal's nose and watched as blood squirted onto the clean white concrete, a loud yelp from the thief filled his ears.

Flynn felt an unexpected spiking pain stab into his gut and he was pushed off by the Racoon's hind legs, the mammal's larger claws digging into his shirt and piercing into his the skin on his stomach, and he fell backward onto his back with a dull gasp as he lost his breath.

His ears pinned back against his head as he rolled onto his stomach and pushed himself back up to his feet in time to see the Racoon, blood dripping out of his nose, grab and throw his wallet into the busy two-lane road.

Flynn's jaw dropped in shock as his eyes followed his wallet through the air and it's fall to the road below. He saw the Racoon sprint away in his peripheral vision but watched in horror as an abnormally tall vehicle sped over his only valuable belonging. The money fluttered out of the wallet's hold and floated into the air, the wind from the car carrying the bills above the ground.

"No! Why? What the fuck!" He yelled out in emotional agony while he wrapped his paw around his cramping stomach.

The Racoon stuck up a middle finger in the air over his head and he turned a corner behind a what looked to be a liquor shop, leaving Flynn and the wallet behind.

Flynn hustled over to the yellow painted curb, eagerly checking both ways on the road for an opening between the rush of vehicles. He struggled to gain control of his breath and he felt a spark of angered anxiety each time a car rolled past and sent his wallet spinning deeper into the road.

After an eternity, there was a larger gap between the traffic and Flynn pushed off from the curb and bolted into the warm road, his eyes still glued to his wallet that lay open in the farthest lane. He slid to a stop, flinging his paw over his wallet and snatching it up off of the black tar. A few clean dollars lay fluttering beside it and he hurriedly snatched those off the road as well.

A loud horn caught his attention and he lifted his head to see a seemingly normal sized red van barrelling it's way down the lane Flynn was standing in. Adrenaline zapped through his legs and he scrambled into the separate lane, leaving a few dollar bills behind and giving the van a few feet of space to pass.

He didn't see the rude gesture the Koala driving the vehicle gave him before he ran back to the side of the road he started on, striding back onto the sidewalk and staring down at his now ruined wallet in his paws.

"What the hell!" Flynn stood in the center of the sidewalk, the pedestrians around him either stopping to stare at his now dirty and slightly bloody form or ignoring him altogether and moving on with their own business.

Flynn opened up the wallet's folds, staring in distaste and pain at the pitiful amount of cash that was left. His license had been pulled halfway out of its place and had an annoying bend in the plastic near the top and he gently pulled it out to fix it. He slowly shuffled back to his bench, staring at his license as he attempted to unfold the crease in the card.

"Goddamnit." He growled in anger, slamming his wallet down at his feet and gripping his license in his paw as he slowly leaned back in his seat. He winced as he felt the cuts in his stomach begin to peel, the skin threatening to pull apart as he rested his back against the backrest.

"Oh my God! Sir, are you okay?" A worried female voice suddenly interrupted his pain and stole his attention. His ears perked as he opened his eyes and tilted his head in the direction he had heard the voice.

The Bunny from inside the Coffee Shop as bounding out of the building, speaking as she made her way towards him. The Fox followed quickly behind while the Otter couple stayed a few cautious steps back.

Flynn groaned and tilted his head back up to stare up at the sky, his free paw resting on his stomach, not exactly in the right mood to talk to anyone. "Yew betcha..."

The Bunny bounced to a stop in front of Flynn, her paws resting over her mouth in either surprise or disgust, Flynn couldn't tell. He glanced down at his stomach, his plain white T-shirt was now becoming dyed a crimson red along thin tears in two pairs of four down his belly.

He tried to sit up straight, the cuts more achy than painful. "I'll be okay," Flynn muttered as he lifted his gaze back up to the Bunny, noticing the Fox was now by her side.

"That's what they all say." The Fox was the one to speak, resting his paws on his hips and tilting his head in obvious denial of Flynn's statement who, in turn, raised a quizzical brow at the stranger.

The Bunny suddenly shuffled closer, causing Flynn to lean back in his seat as the distance between them became uncomfortable.

"Just let me take a look at you. I know what I'm doing." The Bunny began to gently peel the bottom of Flynn's shirt away from his injury, taking extra precaution to make sure the cloth didn't stick to the small lacerations.

Flynn hesitantly let his guard down, keeping a cautious gaze on the purple-eyed mammal. "So, you're a nurse or somethin'?" He eyed the Bunny, inspecting the smaller animal curiously. "A doctor?" He glanced down at his stomach, his tail twitching in irritation as the outside air brushed against his open cuts and blood filtered fur.

The Bunny shook her head, he expression staying calm and quietly professional as she inspected Flynn's abdomen.

The Fox was actually the one to answer his question, stuffing a paw into his pocket and pulling out a golden badge. "No, we're apart of the ZPD." He gently leaned over the Bunny's shoulder, raising a brow as he too scanned over Flynn's injuries.

"We're cops." The Bunny explained as she gently lowered Flynn's dirty shirt before standing up straight and slowly pressing a small paw against his swelling left eye.

Flynn raised his brows quizzically at their occupation, flinching lightly as her thumb pressed down on his bruise.

 _They've got a police department here?_

Flynn did his best to stay still, his eyes focusing on the Bunny as she pried open his sore eyelid. "So, are you two partners?"

The doe nodded. "Mhm," she leaned back away from Flynn, motioning a thumb towards herself. "I'm Judy," she twisted her paw, jerking her thumb towards the Fox behind her, "and this is my friend and partner Nick."

Flynn nodded slowly while he shifted himself back upright. "Flynn. Flynn Wylde." He stuck out a paw, hoping the animals in this world knew what a handshake was... Or a pawshake?

Judy hesitated for a moment, glancing back at Nick for a flash of a second, who in turn shrugged with a small shake of his head, before hurriedly accepting the gesture with a cheery smile. "Pleasure to meet you, Flynn!"

 _What a great way to meet. Bloody and confused._ "Likewise."

Judy lowered an open palm, pointing towards Flynn's abdomen. "You should be alright, for the most part. The cuts look worse at first glance than they actually are."

Flynn glared down at his stained shirt, mumbling in irritation at the annoying ache. "Well, that's good news."

"At the moment, it doesn't seem to me like you'll have to go the hospital. If you'd like, we could patch you up at our Squad Car." Judy smiled and placed her paws on her hips, her ears staying perked like the tall skyscrapers around her.

Flynn noticed Nick's ears perk and brows raise at Judy's suggestion, but her smile was oddly contagious and Flynn returned it with a grateful nod at her generous offer. "That would be awesome! Would I owe you anything?" He lifted up his destroyed wallet, frowning in disappointment at its crumpled form, "I guess you could say I'm low on money."

 _Which is a total understatement to the situation I'm in..._

Judy smiled and shook her head. "Nope! We'll gladly help you out. It's our job."

Flynn was about ready to reply when Nick cleared his throat behind the bunny, stealing her attention.

"Um, Carrots," He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, "we didn't drive the Squad Car." His body rotated towards the direction his thumb was pointing while Flynn and Judy followed Nick's gaze. On the road, parked in front of Buck's Coffee shop, was a freshly washed Red car. The size of the vehicle seemed a little large for the two animals and Flynn didn't recognize the brand, but he wasn't expecting a normal car brand anyways.

"Oh, shoot! That's right..." Judy's ears flattened and her foot tapped rapidly a few times on the sidewalk. She bounced her pointer finger in front of her in thought before perking her ears and turning to glance up at Nick. "Don't you have a first-aid kit in the trunk?"

Nick shrugged in reply. "I might. Lemme go check." He turned and jogged towards his car as the Otter couple shuffled forward to replace him behind Judy.

Flynn noticed to two Otter's and gave them a quiet salute and directing Judy's attention to the mammal's behind her.

"Oh! Flynn, this is Mister and Misses Otterton." Judy motioned a paw towards the couple who both gave similar waves towards Flynn. "Mister and Miss Otterton, this is Flynn Wylde."

Flynn nodded politely at his new acquaintances. "I saw you four together in Buck's Coffee."

Mrs. Otterson took a curious step forward, her critical eyes scanning over Flynn's stomach, and shook her head slowly. "Are you sure you're okay?" She had the worried expression of a mother watching her child trying to ride a bicycle without training wheels for the first time.

Flynn shifted his weight on his bench, sitting up straight and doing his best to fix his posture without inducing any pain on his injury. "Mhm. I'll be alright." He shrugged, adding a smile to his muzzle, "You should see the other guy."

Mr. Otterton chuckled quietly and appeared to like the joke, but Mrs. Otterson visibly forced a smile before taking her place back beside her husband without replying.

A few silent seconds later, Nick returned from the car holding a white plastic box in his paws. A red cross was printed on the top and he quickly gave Judy the first aid kit.

"Could you stand up for me? It'll make it easier to wrap the bandage around your abdomen." Judy took a step back with her request, giving Flynn enough space to stand up.

He nodded, pushing himself onto his paws and gingerly lifted his shirt to expose his stomach to the city air.

This was obviously not Judy's first experience with dealing with Flynn's type of injury. In a matter of minutes, the bunny had cleaned off his lacerations and tightly, but comfortably, wrapped gauze bandages around his abdomen. She finished with a satisfied nod and pointed a grey paw towards Flynn's eye.

"Just put some ice on that eye and you should be golden! Also, keep this bandages on for at least a day. After that, keep the injury clean to prevent infection and it should heal relatively quickly."

Flynn smiled gratefully, letting his shirt fall over his stiff bandages. "Great! Thanks."

Judy smiled, her ears flicking up into the sky. "No problem! I'm glad to be of help." She stuck out her paw for a pawshake and Flynn happily accepted it. He then passed on the pawshake to Nick and the Ottertons.

"God, today has been a total wreck! You're sure I don't owe you anything?" Flynn already knew the answer to his question. He had nothing to give her in return anyways.

"Oh, no. You don't owe us anything." She crossed her arms and grinned,"Just doing our jobs." Nick nodded along to Judy's response, his eyes slowly inspecting Flynn. "Just don't go getting into any more fights, pal."

Flynn raised his paws into the air, shaking his head in a quiet "I promise."

"I'll do my best."

Nick nodded, flicking his tail and stuffing his paws into his pockets.

"Well, Flynn. If you ever need anything, you can find us at the Police Department." Judy still held her smile and gave Flynn a small wave as she turned to leave, following the Ottertons and Nick back towards Buck's Coffee Shop.

Flynn nodded and waved, unconsciously perking his ears. "Thanks again." He watched as the four animals migrated and disappeared back into the coffee shop before plopping back onto his bench with a prolonged sigh.

 _Now what?_ He thought quietly to himself as he stared at the street in front of him.

 _Should I go in and tell them I don't have a house?_

He shook his head in disapproval of the thought.

 _No... What could they do?_

He tilted his head and glanced up at the afternoon blue sky. He felt as if he had been stuck in this new world for an eternity, but the day hadn't even ended yet. He sighed once more, lowering his gaze to his paws as he fidgeted them together in thought.

 _Damn. This is going to be one hella crazy experience._

He pushed his knuckles together, gently cracking them as he stared at his strange appendages.

 _Or one hell of a coma._

* * *

 _That is chapter two! I hope it was enjoyable. I'm thinking I will be finishing my first story's **next** chapter before continuing this one, so don't be surprised if there is a prolonged wait for chapter 3. If anyone has any ideas, OCs, tips, constructive criticism, or anything else they want to see in the story, feel free to message me and I can see what I can do to make this fanfic better! Thanks for reading and enjoy your day!_


	3. Chapter 3: A Strange Start

**Chapter 3**

 **A Strange Start**

* * *

Flynn sat silently in the secluded corner of a dull and musty alleyway, the sounds of muffled music pumped through the brick walls of the building he rested against. His eyes focused blankly on his orange tail as it rested limply beside his outstretched leg.

A few hours earlier, he had managed to dip into a small clothing shop (He hadn't bothered to remember the name) and had been able to trade his torn white shirt for a cleaner one and also grabbed a long-sleeved, grey and black flannel shirt. He knew stealing was wrong, but he was out of money, out of energy, hungry, alone, and desperate in a world he had no knowledge about.

So, he decided stealing was the least of his problems. The male teenaged Skunk running the cash register didn't even notice Flynn walk out with the flannel shirt over his shoulders, mostly because he didn't notice him walk in either. It surprised him how "sucked in" someone could be with a mobile device. He had been glued to his phone before, but never to an extent where he thought it was unhealthy.

Now the sun was setting down behind the horizon on his first day in Zootopia and street lights had begun to light up the roads with a thin white light. None of the light had managed to slip past the alleyway's darkened body, leaving Flynn alone in the dark with only his thoughts, and the busy sound of the constantly moving metropolis and booming club, to keep him company.

His newly discovered "night vision", as he called it, allowed Flynn to inspect his poorly illuminated surroundings as he tore his attention away from his tail, which had become a familiar annoyance with doors and larger feet.

A locked door pressed against the club's wall, the music leaking through the small cracks around its border. An overflowing trashbin stood a few feet away while the lid to the bin rested on the opposite side of the alley, the smell of the broken bags that littered the area attacked his sensitive nose and occasionally made Flynn gag when he sucked in a wrong breath.

He didn't notice any rats or mice crawling around, so he naturally assumed they had become just as intelligent as the other animals that inhabited Zootopia.

Flynn sighed and scratched his bandage, wincing as his claws subdued the itch that had formed several hours earlier. He had done his best to stay clean as to avoid infection and a bad smell, so he was currently sitting in the cleanest spot in the alley where no trash bags had bothered to go. His corner was nearly dirt free and was surprisingly puddle free.

The smooth pavement beneath him acted as a sturdy support while the dusty walls absorbed his aching body. Flynn wanted to sleep more than anything, but his constant obtrusive thoughts and periodic frustration from his overwhelming situation kept him awake and gave his eyes a dull red outline.

He assumed it was the beginning of a fall season, just like back home, as a chilly breeze whirled around the alley and acted as a constant annoyance to Flynn's cold body. For the most part, his fur acted as a barrier to the breeze but sweeps of cold air still managed to sneak past to his skin.

 _I would kill to have my dorm back, no matter how shitty it was._ North complained to himself and closed his eyes, resting his head against the nearest wall.

Just as he was about to be forced asleep by his exhaustion, the sound of the club doorknob clicking open snatched away his consciousness.

His eyes flickered open as the black door swung open and two black panthers stumbled out of the building, the music from inside escaping into the outdoors as their bodies entwined and their muzzles pressed together in a mixture of moans and kisses.

 _Oh! Gross! Shit!_

Flynn shuffled back against the wall, hopping to his feet as he stared in both disgust and shock at the two lager mammals as they rubbed their paws over each other and tore at loose clothing.

The sound of the door creaking as it slowly began to close quickly grabbed his attention and he broke his gaze away from the oblivious Panthers to see that the door was closing at an extremely slow rate.

His ears perked as a plan quickly flashed into Flynn's head and he made a break for the door, outstretching his paw to grab the knob only seconds before it finished closing.

He quickly swung the door open enough to allow his smaller body to slip into the club just as the female panther let out a long erotic moan. Flynn hurriedly pulled the door shut, closing off the touchy Panthers in the alleyway and sealing himself inside the noisy club.

He sighed in relief and shuttered at the memory of what he had almost witnessed. The upbeat music bounced in his chest as he turned to look at his surroundings.

He was in a darkly lit hallway, a red exit sign being the only source of light, that led down to a sharp turn into what Flynn assumed to be the main space of the building. He cautiously began to walk to the end of the hall and poked his head around the corner. His brows raised and his ears perked at what he saw.

A large multicolored floor covered the entirety of the extensively wide and black painted space. A tall stage held a small booth where a Coyote wearing a multi-colored hoddie currently sat and nodded his head to the beat of his music. The area was packed with mammals of multiple different species, all seemed to be no taller than the polar bear in a tight black shirt with the word "Security" printed in bold text on his shoulder blades.

A long bar with red padded stools stood against the wall farthest away from Flynn and he noticed an arctic wolf dressed in a fancy black dress shirt and black tie expertly pouring drinks into the cups of chatting animals.

Most of the mammals in the club were dressed up in fancy suits and dresses while others seemed to be clothed in casual attire. Flynn glanced down at himself, suddenly self-conscious of his own looks compared to the animals surrounding him.

 _Fuck, I'm gonna stick out like a lighthouse in this crowd._

Flynn slithered back behind the safety of the wall and took a large breath.

 _Why the hell did I come in here?_

He groaned inaudibly as he fell back against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor, his ears pinning back against his head in frustration.

 _What am I supposed to do! If security see's me they'll kick me out._

Flynn rested his head back against the wall and stared up at the dull grey tiled ceiling, his thoughts falling apart as his frustration turned into a sad pout.

After a few long moments of arguing to himself over his next move, he finally decided to stay behind the wall and pray that security didn't find him.

He closed his eyes and flattened his ears against his head in an unsuccessful attempt to block out the sounds of the incredibly loud music that pumped through the wall like a sledgehammer. Soon enough, exhaustion and stress pulled his body into an uncomfortable deep sleep and the sounds of the music faded away with his consciousness while his body slowly slid down against the wall and to the floor.

...

Flynn didn't know how much time had gone by before he started to wake up, but the first thing he noticed was that the music had stopped and the club was silent.

He managed to pull open his eyes enough to see the dusty floor his head rested on and he groaned from the annoying headache the hard surface was giving him.

He felt as if he hadn't slept at all as his body still felt depleted of energy. He sighed quietly as he pushed himself up to a sitting position and used his right arm for support as he rolled over to his feet, his confusion overcoming his desire to go back to sleep. He stood up straight and lifted his arms above his head with a tired groan, tilting his body back to stretch his spine.

As he let his arms fall back down, he rubbed the weariness away from his eyes with his paws and let out a prolonged yawn.

He shook his head in an attempt to wake himself up further before he curiously shuffled over to the end of the wall.

 _If there's no music, does that mean the club's closed?_ He poked his head back around the edge of the wall and saw that the lights inside of the floor had been shut down, the DJ and masses of people were gone, and only the white lights hanging from the ceiling remained turned on.

After seeing that the building was empty, Flynn stepped out from the hallway and onto the screen floor.

"Hello?" He called out to the empty space which returned his call with a sharp echo. Flynn stood silently for a few moments, waiting for some mammal to call back to him. When he heard no reply he shrugged and glanced back over his shoulder to make sure he was totally alone.

"Well, if nobody is here..." He spoke to himself quietly, "then they wouldn't mind if I explored a little." His eyes landed on the bar he had noticed before he had fallen asleep and his feet immediately carried him over to the polished wood countertop.

His fingers slid along the rounded edge as he rounded the corner to get behind the counter. He grinned and rubbed his paws together, his stomach growling in hunger as he saw a row of pre-prepared table snacks on silver trays along the lowest of three shelves.

Flynn quickly hoisted the closest tray off of the shelf and up onto the smooth wood surface of the bar and hungrily inspected the assortments of crackers, small sandwiches, and tiny shish kabobs that held a plethora of fruit.

 _I'm so hungry I could eat an elephant!_ His stomach growled, urging him to eat as he nearly drooled over the tray.

Seeing that the small sandwiches were the largest, he began to devour the first of five rows, stuffing sandwiches into his mouth like candy.

He was surprised by the sharp and colorful taste, expecting the flavor to be bland without any sort of meat. The sound of his satisfied eating and the clicking of his claws on the tray echoed quietly in the empty space around him.

He was about to try one of the shish kabobs when the sound of mumbling voices and distant pawsteps reached his ears and caused him to pause his meal, his paw hovering over the first row of kabobs.

His ears perked in panic, the quiet noises barely reaching his him as he looked up from the tray and stared in the direction he believed the voices were coming from.

It took a few more seconds before Flynn was able to confirm that he was hearing real voices and not just paranoid thoughts in the back of his head.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Flynn whispered violently to himself as he scrambled to slide the tray off of the bar counter and onto the lower shelf as quietly as he could. The voices were now clear, but still distant and muffled as he cautiously lifted his head above the bar to peek at who was at the club so late, or early.

Suddenly, a thin door straight ahead of Flynn (Next to the hallway he had slept in) opened and the voices began echo confidently around the larger space. A black-furred male timberwolf dressed in a fancy black suit and tie stepped out from behind the door and held it open for a slim female Arctic Leopard in a short skirt-length red dress with no sleeves. She also carried a matching red purse.

As soon as Flynn saw them enter the room, he quickly ducked beneath the cover of the bar and perked his ears in an attempt to eavesdrop on their conversation.

A deeper voice, which he assumed to be the wolf's, was currently speaking as their pawsteps slowly moved closer to the middle of the dance floor.

"-How are you supposed to get it back without getting caught? If you're arrested, this entire place will go down!"

 _Arrested?_ Flynn was immediately curious about what the two were planning and the wolf's voice almost sounded strangely familiar.

A more feminine voice responded to the wolf. "Lucas, I don't plan on stealing it myself! That would too risky!"

Flynn sat up straight for a moment, the name of his friend resonating in his ears as a seemingly irrational thought probed his head.

 _Lucas? It can't be... Was he sent here too?_

The Leopard continued to speak as Flynn flattened his ears and rested down on his side. He gently gripped the side of the bar and poked his eyes around the side edge to see the conversation.

"I plan to hire someone to do it for me. If it was some low-life thug who got caught, it would be his word against mine."

The Leopard rested a paw on her chest with a smile, obviously implying that she would win a court case if her hired robber accused her.

The wolf shook his head slowly and crossed his arms, a doubtful frown covering his muzzle. "But, still... Couldn't you just pay the Maines to give you the diamond back? I mean, it is **just** a diamond."

The Leopard gasped and lifted her paw to her mouth in an overdramatic display of shock. "Just a diamond! Lucas, Lucas, Lucas! Haven't I already told you that it's a prized family possession!" She lowered her paw from her muzzle back to her chest. "Those damned Lions stole it from us, and we have to take it back! It's a feud." She paused, leaning closer to Lucas, "a war."

 _Oh my god, she's dramatic._

 _"_ I thought you, of all mammals, would remember that." The Leopard continued.

Lucas could only nod in reply, his gaze drifting off to the floor. Suddenly, Flynn noticed the wolf's ears perk and his eyes quickly lift up to the bar.

 _Shit!_

Flynn quickly pushed himself back behind the counter and silently swore at himself as he pressed himself against the shelves and stayed as quiet as he possibly could.

His heart was already beating faster by the minute and now it was beating at a dangerous speed.

"Misses White, I thought I saw something..."

 _Fuck!_

"You _thought_ you did?"

"I don't know for sure..."

There was a small sigh from the Leopard that Flynn now knew as "Mrs. White"

"Well, what did you see?"

There was a small pause, and a quiet "hm" before a pair of footsteps began to quickly march towards the bar. Flynn felt fiery panic bubble in his stomach and boil in his chest as he pressed himself against the shelves in frozen fear. _Damnit!_

Flynn stared at the missing side of the bar like a statue as the pawsteps came closer.

A white paw unexpectedly appeared at the gap as stomped into view, her taller form towering over Flynn's as her piercing blue eyes stared wide in shock at him.

"What are you doing here!" Her angry voice raised in pitch as Flynn shuffled backward and up to his feet, throwing his paws into the air in surrender.

"I can explain! I-I fell asleep in that hallway, and I was hungry, and I didn't think anyone was here, and I-" He was cut off by Mrs. White as she suddenly whipped out a tiny black handgun, a small dart protruding from the barrel, from her purse and aimed it at Flynn who recoiled back and pushed his paws out in front of himself in a sense of false protection.

"Wait! Don't shoot!" He squeezed his eyes shut in instinctive terror.

"Whoa! Mrs. White! What're you doing?" Flynn heard Lucas speak out from beside Mrs. White who still held the weapon at chest height and direction towards Flynn.

"He broke in here! He could have heard our conversation!" Flynn opened one eye to see Lucas gently reach out to lower Mrs. Whites paws and point the dart gun towards the floor.

"But that doesn't mean you should shoot him! If you accidentally him, you'd get into some deep trouble."

Flynn slowly lowered his paws and stared wide-eyed at the glaring Leopard and the cautious wolf, his breaths inhaling and exhaling rapidly.

Lucas stepped away from Mrs. White as she huffed and stuffed the weapon back in her purse. Her flaming glare lifted back to Flynn, who flinched in return.

She growled, "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Lucas visibly relaxed and lifted a quizzical stare at Flynn.

Flynn slowly tried to hide his fear, his blood pumping through his head as his heart continued to beat at an accelerated pace.

"Um, I-Uh..." He took a deep breath in a failed attempt to regain his composure, his eyes staying locked on Lucas as he tried to speak.

"I fell asleep here..." He lifted a paw and pointed at the hallway across the room. "In that hallway. And I, uh... I woke up and saw nobody was here and I was super _super_ hungry and there was food here so I-" Mrs. White lifted a paw in the air to interrupt him, a look of distaste covering her feline expression.

"Okay, Fox. You're either homeless or wasted." She lowered her paw to her hips. "What's your name?"

"Oh! Um, Flynn." He glanced over to Lucas to monitor his reaction. "Flynn Wylde."

Flynn noticed Lucas's brows suddenly raise in surprise and his shoulder's drop in disbelief. He took a step back, his arms hanging from his sides as he tilted his head. "Flynn? The Flynn Wylde?"

Flynn felt a small spark of excitement, and hope, light in his chest as he nodded hesitantly. "Yes? Or, I think so?"

Mrs. White flicked her ears in confusion, turning her gaze towards Lucas. "You know him?"

Lucas basically ignored Mrs. White as he slapped his paws on his face and ran them through the fur on his head in astonishment. "Flynn, it's me, Luke! Lucas Kindley!"

Even though Flynn had thought about the wolf being the Lucas he knew from home, he never actually believed himself. Flynn shook his head, his jaw hanging open in both excitement and doubt. "You're kidding?"

Flynn stayed stiff in confused excitement as Luke cheerfully skipped forward with outstretched paws. "I never kid!"

Luke's single sarcastic phrase, a phrase Luke commonly used when he **was** kidding, snapped Flynn out of his trance and he pulled the larger wolf into a rough hug. Luke lifted Flynn off of his feet to make up for the difference in height as Flynn gave him a friendly pat on the back. "Luke! How the hell did you end up here?"

Flynn landed lightly on his paws when Luke dropped him from the hug with a wide and toothy smile. "Well, the same way you did."

"Wait, so..." Flynn raised a brow up at Lucas with a quizzical expression, "you died?"

"Yew betcha."

Flynn was taken back at how casually his friend was talking about his own death. "So, this isn't just a weird coma?"

Luke shook his head slowly, like a father teaching his son the correct answer to a problem. "Well, I know for a fact you're not in a coma."

"How would you know that?" Flynn crossed his arms and flicked his tail, puzzled.

Before Luke could respond, an intrusive cough interrupted him from behind as Mrs. White crossed her arms and leaned impatiently against the bar countertop.

Flynn watched as Luke's ears perked up and his attention was turned towards the over-dramatic Leopard. "Oh! Right! Uh, Flynn, this is Mrs. White. I've known her all my life. She's almost like a mother to me."

"What? All of your life?" Flynn tilted his head in a clear display of confusion while also giving Mrs. White a small half-wave, which she didn't return.

Luke shrugged as he glanced back down towards Flynn. "Uh, yeah. Well, the portion of my life before I was human."

Flynn's jaw dropped open and his eyes widened in disbelief as he stared up at his friend. "B-Before you were human! Wait, so, does that mean you were," he paused and motioned with his paws up and down Luke's body, " **this** before you were..." He paused again, searching for the correct term to finish his scrambled sentence, "before you were Lucas?"

He noticed Mrs. White rest her head in her paw in agitation while Luke tilted his head back and forth as he too began to search for the right words to explain his situation. "Well, I was always Lucas. I was just **this** Lucas before I was the human Lucas, and now I'm back to being **this** Lucas."

Flynn threw his arms in the air, his brow raised once again. "That doesn't make any fucking sense!"

Luke slapped his paws over his eyes and drug them down his muzzle as he shook his head, his ears flattening against his head. "God, I know, I know! It's kind of hard to explain. It involves this stupid diamond and I- Ow!"

He was cut off as Mrs. White smacked a paw against the back of his head, her eyes glaring fire at Luke before she replaced her silencing expression with a small and fake smile towards Flynn.

As Luke recovered from the smack, she cleared her throat as she noticed Flynn's dumbfounded expression before standing up straight and fixing a few wrinkles in her clothing. "Well, I'm glad you two have reunited and it was a," Mrs. White flicked her ears and scanned her mind for a polite term, " _pleasure_ meeting Mr. Wylde, but I need you to leave my establishment or else I will call the police."

Flynn crossed his arms and stared silently at Mrs. White for a few awkward moments as Luke turned in disbelief towards the self-centered Leopard. "The police! Mrs. White, he isn't doing anything wrong."

Mrs. White lifted a paw in the air to stop Luke from talking before pointing down to the half-empty tray on one of the lower shelves of the bar.

"The Fox is trespassing and he's stealing. He's doing plenty of things wrong, Lucas."

Luke frowned and followed Mrs. White's paw to the tray before looking back up at Flynn. "Okay, but he's in a desperate situation right now."

Flynn stood awkwardly as both Mrs. White and Luke stared with polar opposite expressions at his shorter form.

Suddenly, Lucas's eyes lit up and his ears perked up. "Flynn, do you have a place to stay?"

Flynn crossed his arms and flattened his ears against his head, slightly embarrassed to answer. "Um, no."

"Fantastic! You could stay with us."

"What?"

"What!"

Both Flynn and Mrs. White responded in sync with two different levels of bewilderment.

Mrs. White shook her head and took a few powerful steps forward to stand beside Lucas, her expression clearly showing her distaste for the idea he had presented. "Lucas! I don't want him in my club so I surely don't want him in my home!"

 _Fuck you too, asshole._ Flynn frowned at the Leopard's obvious disliking of him.

"But, Mrs. White, he's my friend and he obviously confused! What's wrong with helping him out a little?"

"He's a Fox! You know all Foxes are the same. He's bound to take something!"

"He wasn't always a Fox! I already explained to you where we came from."

"It doesn't matter, Lucas! I don't want-..." Mrs. White slowly paused her angry statement to turn her attention to Flynn who was still standing alone in the corner of the bar.

He smiled uncomfortably as her distasteful frown turned into a seemingly evil grin. She quickly tore her stare away from Flynn to look back at Lucas who had followed her gaze to Flynn.

"Alright, Lucas. I will allow him to stay with us."

Luke's ears perked in astonishment and he scanned Mrs. White for any signs of sarcasm. "Wait, you're serious?"

Mrs. White nodded. "Of course I am!" She crossed her arms over her chest, her purse dangling off her forearm as she continued to hold her grin. "I only have one condition."

Lucas raised a brow at Mrs. White while Flynn tapped his foot on the floor impatiently.

"He has to take back the Family Jewel from the Maines."

"What!" Lucas learned forward towards Mrs. White, his loose body posture and his stiffened tail showing his obvious dislike of her proposition. "Why does Flynn have to take back the Diamond! I thought you were going to hire some low-life thug to do it!"

Mrs. White ignored Luke as she turned to leave the bar, her grin turning into a devilish smile. "If your friend doesn't get the Diamond, I'll have him arrested for trespassing and theft."

"Mrs. White! You can't do that!" Lucas complained as she left both him and Flynn behind as she strutted away, swaying her hips and tail as she shook her head.

"I can do what I like and I would like to _not have to pay_ for a low-life to steal for me when I can blackmail one instead."

Luke glanced back and forth between Flynn and Mrs. White repeatedly, his muzzle stuck open in a mixture of disbelief and bewilderment.

"I have to do what now?" Flynn moved to stand next to Luke who was glaring angrily at Mrs. White as she continued to walk farther away.

Flynn glanced up at Luke who sighed and stared back down at him with flattened ears and a defeated frown.

"If you don't steal a Diamond that is said to give 'infinite life' to its keeper from a family of extremely wealthy Lions-"

"Before the end of the week!" Mrs. White called out from across the club, her paw thrown in the air for effect as she interrupted Luke.

Lucas growled quietly before continuing, "before the end of this week, Mrs. White is threatening to throw you in jail."

Flynn stood speechlessly below his friend as he watched Mrs. White open the door she had entered the large club through and exited the building with a victorious flick of her tail.

He slowly tilted his head to catch Luke's agitated stare.

"Shit, dude. How the hell am I supposed to do that?"

Luke only shrugged in return, his tail drooping against the floor.

Flynn looked back at the empty club as the door Mrs. White left through finally closed with an echoing click.

"This day just get's weirder by the hour." He crossed his arms and glanced down at his orange tail, watching it flick beside his foot... Paw... Appendage with a tired groan, his headache slowly returning.

 _Weird is an extreme understatement..._ He thought quietly to himself as Lucas nodded in silent agreement to his previous statement.

* * *

 _There's chapter 3! I hope you enjoyed it! I'm going to be working on the next chapter for my first story before I continue this one, but I may work on both simultaneously so hopefully there won't be too long of a wait for both chapters - It all depends on how much free time I get._

 _Anyways, thanks for reading and enjoy your day!_


	4. Chapter 4: Elaboration

**Chapter 4**

 **Elaboration**

 _I apologize for the long wait between chapters! I flip-flop between writing for my first story, "Recollection", and this one to help stop writer's block and to give me more options to write about. SO, thank you for being patient!_

 _Enjoy._

* * *

The sun was beginning to settle below the tops of the glamorous Zootopian skyscrapers as the city's residents continued to fuel its famous non-stop pace. The sounds of thousands of vehicles and voices bounced off the many towers with their multi-colored glass walls alongside the sun's orange rays, which gave the bustling metropolis a tired dusk glow.

The sights of the city astounded Flynn as he sat beside Luke on a cold green metal bench along a well-kept cement path that weaved through the small grassy park they were currently visiting. Mammals of all sizes and species conversed throughout the park while the younger ones played small games of soccer, football, or catch.

The realization of how similar this world was to Earth Flynn knew constantly amazed him and the magnificence of the city was breathtaking as he still struggled to comprehend his complicated situation.

"Alright! This may get a little confusing..."

Flynn tore his attention away from a pair of Lynx cubs, kicking around what seemed to be a hacky sack, to raise a brow at Luke who was currently collecting his thoughts with his paws folded together and his ears flattened to the back of his head.

Flynn groaned as he slouched down in his spot on the bench, his paws barely able to touch the ground compared to his friend who could easily reach the cement below. "It's already confusing! How come you didn't tell me you were from..." Flynn paused for a moment to wave his paws around as if he were showing off the park, "here! Zootropolis! Or whatever it's called."

Luke's brows pressed together. "Zootopia."

Flynn waved a paw in dismissal towards his friend's correction. "Whatever! I was close." He crossed his arms and did his best to keep from sliding down the barred metal curve of the bench. "It's just so overwhelming..."

Luke lifted a paw to massage his thumb and index finger between his eyes, answering Flynn's rebuttal with a prolonged sigh. "No shit."

Flynn leaned back against the larger armrest as he stared at his friend with an impatient frown.

Luke glanced quizzically back at Flynn, raising a brow and lowering his paw. "What?"

Flynn, in turn, opened his arms in a gesture for Luke to begin explaining. "I don't have all week, apparently."

Luke held out an annoyed paw and nodded slowly in response, "Alright, alright. Don't get your tail in a bunch."

 _Literally_ _._ Flynn thought to himself as his friend was finally able to compose himself.

He sat quietly as Luke pointed a flattened paw at Flynn, bouncing it gently with each word. He liked to speak with his hands - Or paws. "Ok, I guess in order for you to _fully_ understand everything, I should start from the beginning."

Flynn shifted his weight in his seat and eagerly waited for any kind of explanation as to why he was stuck in this strange place.

Lucas started off with rubbing his paws together. "Alright! So, before I lived on YOUR Earth, I lived here..." He lifted a paw to motion towards the surrounding city, "Zootopia."

Flynn nodded slowly to show his friend he understood the concept. "Mhm."

"I lived in outskirts of Savannah Central, kind of in a ghetto." He noticed Flynn raise a confused brow and sighed in return, realizing the fox obviously wasn't aware of the cities layout. "There are four major parts of the city. Savannah Central, where we are now. Sahara Square, the desert area. Tundratown, basically Minnesota winters all year long." He chuckled at his own joke before continuing.

"And then there's the Rainforest District. That one's basically self-explanatory. There are other smaller areas around Zootopia, but those are the main four. They use this thing called Climate Control to help control the temperature of each section. It doesn't change the overall weather of the city, but it keeps the climates how the inhabitants want them."

Flynn nodded slowly as he imagined a layout of the city in his head. He had seen a map the day previously but hadn't really understood why it was divided. Now, after Lucas had explained everything, the map made a little more sense.

Luke folded his paws and began to fiddle with his thumbs, "Born and raised here, in Savannah Central, like I said earlier." He raised a pointed finger in the air, raising a new point and important point to the conversation. "Now, Zootopia isn't the ENTIRE world. It's just a city. It's basically exactly like Earth..." He paused and lowered his finger towards Flynn, "but without humans."

Flynn lifted his paws to his head and pulled them away in a motion mimicking an explosion, fanning his fingers and mouthing a silent and sarcastic, 'Whoooaa!'

"Right? Mind-blown." Lucas snickered at Flynn's reaction. He stopped for a few seconds to think of what to say next.

"Oh! I have a family of four. Another younger brother and two loving parents." A toothy smile formed across his muzzle. "The Wolflack family."

"Wait-a-second.." Flynn tilted his head as he glared at Lucas with a quizzical expression. "So your last name isn't Kindley?"

Lucas shook his head slowly in return, "I thought it would be appropriate to change my name once I became familiar with being a Human." He chuckled for a few seconds before continuing his explanation. "It was actually a name I saw on a road sign. Kindley Street." He shrugged, his smile still stuck on his face, "I decided it was a good fit."

 _I swear everything I know about Lucas is completely changing..._ Flynn felt a small stab of homesickness in his chest but rubbed it off with a small shrug. "Seems legit." He leaned towards Luke with a raised brow, a question that was itching to be released had been plaguing his mind for the past few hours. "So, how did you end up in Minnesota?"

Luke tilted his head back to take a small glance at the darkening sky before returning eye contact with Flynn. "Well, I thought I had died. But apparently, I was stuck in a medically induced coma."

Flynn felt a flutter of hope erupt in his heart and he quickly sat up straight with an irresistible smile on his muzzle, a perk in his ears and a sway in his tail. "So that means I could be in a coma too! I could go home!"

Lucas frowned at Flynn's sudden outbreak of hope, his ears pinning back to his head as he held an uneasy gaze towards the Fox. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I wouldn't get your hopes up, Flynn."

Flynn's ears also flattened back and his tail immediately stopped its quiet sway as he returned the frown and glared, confused, up at his friend. "What do you mean? If you were in a coma and were sent to my world, that means it must be the same scenario with me!"

Luke bent down slightly to rest a large black paw on Flynn's flanneled shoulder. "Flynn, my scenario was a little different than yours..."

Flynn growled quietly but didn't remove his friends comforting paw from his shoulder. "How so?"

Luke removed his paw and pointed his index finger out while pressing his other index finger on top of it, signaling he was starting out with the first of multiple reasons to answer Flynn's question. "For starters, I saw you die. It was pretty ugly and I know for a fact that you weren't going to get back up from that crash."

Flynn felt his heart sink below the pit of his stomach as he tried to hide a small struggle between his growing sadness and depleting optimism. "How could you know for a fact? I thought you died too."

"I did!" Lucas retorted with a seemingly casual nod. "But I died after we were pulled out of the car." He shuddered, shaking his paws and shivering his tail. "The image is stuck in my brain, man. I mean, shit dude. Your arm was nearly ripped off from the slide on the pavement; it was stuck on the outside of the vehicle, the shattered glass from your window was peeling off the skin on your arms and face, and the blood on your body barely made you recognizable."

Flynn choked as he tried to imagine his horrifically disfigured and destroyed body he had been born with. The one he had looked at in the mirror for his entire life. The thought was enough to make Flynn keep his mouth shut and shiver in uncontrollable disgust.

"I also overheard one of the paramedics saying you were... Gone. They were even hesitant on pulling your body from the car. The front of the car had been smashed over your legs. I can't imagine how much that could have hurt."

Flynn only nodded in reply, slowly removing his gaze from Lucas's to stare at his dangling paws as he desperately tried to flush away the memory of the car crash.

Lucas continued as if he were talking about the scores of a sports game, seemingly positive and optimistic for the season to come. "Shortly afterward, I could feel myself beginning to slip away. I've felt the feeling before, so I knew what it was like already."

There was a small moment of silence as Flynn tried desperately to collect his slowly scattering thoughts.

"So how did I get here?" He asked to break the silence while he raised his attention back up to Luke who was still leaning slightly over him in a sympathetic and curious manner.

Lucas leaned back to rest against the sloping backrest of the bench with a tiny shrug and raise of his paws. "To be honest, I'm not sure. I bet the Diamond brought you back with me somehow."

Flynn gave him a curious glance, "the same Diamond I'm supposed to steal from those Lions?"

Luke nodded and shuffled to get into a more comfortable sitting position on the bench. "Yew betcha. It's the same Diamond I died trying to steal it from a crime boss named, Mr. Big." Luke ran a paw down his face, almost embarrassed as Flynn raised both brows inquiringly. Lucas ran his paws back over his ears at the memory, lowering a small smile towards his friend. "What's funny is that he's a tiny Shrew." He shook his head before continuing, "his Polar Bear followers are what's dangerous."

Flynn nodded, still curious as to how his friend had been 'killed'. Luke paused for a few moments before finishing his story. "I had the Diamond right in my paws! I was literally holding it. I was able to sneak past those Goddamn Bears and take it right from its glass case!" Luke slammed a balled fist into his thigh, growling almost inaudibly as he stared off into remembrance. "The next thing I knew, I felt as if my shoulder was being torn off and I was being thrown into a freezing pool beneath a bunch of floorboards."

Flynn wiggled in his seat, staying quiet as he realized his friend was still internally struggling with the event.

"Apparently, one of the Polar Bears had shot me in the shoulder and then they had "iced me", as they call it." Luke took a deep breath before slowly releasing it with a calming hum. "That's what Mrs. White told me. The ice is actually what kept me from completely dying; it slowed the flow of my blood and kept me from completely bleeding out before the Police came to rescue me."

"After that, I woke up in an alleyway in the middle of a strange city, in a strange new body with a bunch of strange creatures." He glanced back down at Flynn, "and I was completely alone."

Flynn met Lucas's gaze, knowing exactly how his friend had felt. "I know the feeling..."

Lucas nodded slowly, "After about a week, a wonderful Christian family helped me get back on my feet. I made them believe I was an abandoned orphan living on the streets and they brought me into their lives without hesitation." He looked back down at his paws as he massaged them together almost uncomfortably. "I was eighteen at the time. They helped me get into a university and that's where I met you, roomie."

Flynn grinned as he remembered the first time he had met Lucas. They had been roommates in the same dorm and Flynn had been able to make quick friends with the slightly shorter, black-haired, green-eyed kid from Minneapolis. Throughout their few years in college, they had formed a brother-like relationship.

Lucas let out a short laugh before punching Flynn in the shoulder. "God! You were such a goofball! You were definitely the 'people person' in our friend group."

"Bullshit! Luke, everybody loved you! Plus, you basically stole every girl I asked out just by standing next to me." Flynn called out his friend before returning the punch with lesser force; mostly due to his size.

Lucas replied with a fading chuckle and a small smirk. "Nah, those chicks were just constantly drunk; never sober. That's the only way they could have found me attractive."

Flynn shook his head, letting out a small bout of laughter and leaned back against his section of the backrest and let his gaze drift off to the skyscrapers above. As they drifted off into silence, the stars began to show and reflect off the windows of every building as the sun gently dipped below the horizon. Many of the park visitors had left, but the ones who stayed were now illuminated by tall black street lights that surrounded the park and followed the cement paths.

Flynn sighed quietly, finding the sounds of the city almost relaxing. "So, you don't think I'll ever get to go home?"

Lucas returned the sigh, tilting his head to glance down at him. "I think the only way you'd be able to go back home is if you died... Again." He looked back up at the skyscrapers and Flynn followed his gaze. "And I doubt you're in a hurry to do that again. I know I wouldn't be."

"Trust me. I'm not." Flynn agreed, silently hiding his growing pit of disappointment and homesickness by closing his eyes and forcing his body to relax and listen to the sounds around him.

They sat in silence, for what seemed to Flynn to be hours, as they watched the moon rise into the sky and blend with the growing herd of clouds that threatened to block out the moon's white rays of light. Even though the night took over the city, the inhabitants continued to bustle around. The swoosh of cars passing by the nearby street gave the park a comfortable background noise while the street lights kept their bench dimly illuminated with the rest of the park.

Flynn could feel himself begin to drift off to sleep but was politely interrupted by a small pat on the back by Lucas. He tiredly opened one eye to see what his friend wanted but was surprised to see his friend was sound asleep. Confused, Flynn opened both eyes and curiously glanced around him, keeping his ears perked and alert.

There was a small, but polite, cough from behind and below him and he turned around on the bench, using his knees as a lift to see over the backrest.

He was surprised to see a Bunny in a Police Uniform standing a few inches below him, her ears perked up as she held a warm smile. "Hi! Sorry to wake you. I'm Judy Hopps," she tapped a paw onto the badge on her chest, "ZPD."

Flynn's eyes widened at the familiar name, and he lifted his paw to show off a small wave. "Judy?"

Judy raised a confused ear at him and rested her paws on her hips.

"It's me, Flynn Wylde."

Judy's brows raised as she immediately recognized Flynn's name and her smile grew impossibly wider. "Oh! Flynn! You're that Fox from a few days ago, right?"

Flynn nodded, "Mhm. That's me."

Judy's ears perked up cheerily and she gestured up towards him with an open palm,"How're you feeling?"

Flynn glanced over to Lucas, who was still passed out, before returning the smile back towards the polite bunny. "Great! Thanks for asking." He perked his ears, suddenly curious as to what Judy was up to. "What brings you out here so late?"

Judy's ears flattened casually behind her as she tilted her head back and forth with her reply, "Oh, you know. I got assigned to the night shift." She shook her paws jazzily to add a little spark to her statement, "the ZPD, making the world a better place twenty-four-seven, three-sixty-five."

Flynn grinned. "Nice, nice," he nodded slowly before sucking in a large and sudden yawn. He lifted a paw out to pause the conversation as he finished, shaking the tired shivers out of his spine before letting his paw dangle off the back of the bench. "Sorry."

Judy kept her positive smile as she politely ignored the yawn, "Aw, no worries." She paused for a moment and glanced over at Lucas, who was beginning to snore quietly beside Flynn. "I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but I'm supposed to tell you to leave the park. Legally, and for public safety reasons, we cant have anyone," She lifted up her paws to add finger quotes,"'spending the night' here."

"Oh!" Flynn sat up straight, using his paws to lift himself up to stand on the bench. He should have processed it earlier; sleeping in a public park was probably not a perfect plan as it wasn't like the two didn't have a place to stay. "Right! Our bad. We kind of just fell asleep mid-conversation." He quickly turned to start patting Lucas on the shoulder, attempting to wake him up. "It's been a long day..."

"Really?" Judy questioned as Luke suddenly snorted awake and sat up in a slouching position, his eyes filled red with sleep and his ears drooping behind his head in fatigue.

"Shit, did I fall asleep?" Luke mumbled half to himself as he slowly glared at Flynn. "God, what time is it?"

Flynn shrugged and ignored his friend's questions as he responded to Judy's. "Oh, yeah. I seem to run into the strangest mammals here..."

 _Did I just say mammals? Damn, I'm catching on to this stuff._ Flynn thought as he realized he had unintentionally used the word mammals instead of people.

Judy only set her small paws on her belt, keeping her smile as she nodded. "Well, hopefully, you don't run into the _wrong_ mammals," emphasizing the word 'wrong.'

Flynn internally groaned. _Too late. I've basically run into ALL the bad animals here._

He remembered the Racoon and Mrs. White with equal distaste and Flynn had to stop himself from saying his thoughts out loud as Luke turned around to finally notice Judy standing behind him.

"Aw, shoot. Are we getting arrested?" Lucas was still dazed from his sudden awakening and he stared at Judy in confusion. "Officer, I swear I wasn't drinking..."

Judy raised a brow at Lucas, before shaking her head with a small grin. "You two have a place to stay tonight? I can't just leave you out here if you don't."

Lucas tilted his head towards Flynn, still trying to connect the dots in the conversation, while Flynn shook his head in response to Judy's question. "Uh, yup! We do. We're just out here catching up on old times." He paused, glancing at Luke before returning his gaze back to Judy. "We're high school friends and I'm just visiting the city for a week or so."

Judy nodded her head in understanding. "Alright. Just had to make sure." She pointed a thumb back over her shoulder and rotated slightly as she turned to leave. "I should probably catch up with Nick and continue on with checking the rest of the park." She began to walk away, throwing a wave over her shoulder as she did so. "You two have a nice night and enjoy your stay, Flynn!"

"Adios, Judy!" Flynn returned the wave and Luke naturally did the same before tilting his head to the side.

"You know her?" Luke questioned him as Flynn hopped to his feet on the bench.

"Mhm. I don't think I told you, but this damn Racoon mugged me yesterday."

Lucas flicked his tail, still puzzled. "How does that relate to you knowing her?"

Flynn glanced down at his stomach and lifted his shirt to reveal the bandage still firmly wrapped around his abdomen. "Judy and her partner Nick were the ones to help me afterward."

"Oh.." Lucas nodded. "Okay, that makes sense." Flynn stood up straighter as his friend leaned in to inspect the stained bandage, using his thumb and index finger to slowly stroking his chin as he winced in the dim light. "He must'a got you pretty good, eh?"

Flynn casually shrugged in return, still holding up the rim of his shirt to take his own look at the bandage. "Judy said it wasn't as bad as it looked." He glanced back over the backrest to see that Judy had disappeared somewhere in the park, "but it could have been a lot worse if they hadn't offered to help."

Luke nodded and stood up, his ears pinning in thought as Flynn dropped his shirt back over his bandage.

"How long have you been here, Flynn?"

"What?"

Luke crossed his arms over his chest, "I'm just curious. How long have you been in Zootopia? You haven't told me yet."

Flynn raised a puzzled brow up at his friend. "Well, I just assumed you would have been here the same amount of time as me." He hopped off the bench as Luke rested his paws on his hips.

"And how long has that been?" He inquired, tapping his foot on the ground quietly.

Flynn shrugged. "Two days? Three starting tomorrow."

Luke's eyes widened, his ears perking in visual puzzlement. "Only two days?" Flynn nodded and stuff his paws into his pockets.

"Mhm. I woke up in an alleyway yesterday. Why? Have you've been here longer?" He finished, naturally flicking his tail. He was surprised at how quickly he'd gotten used to the weird feeling of the extra appendage.

Luke's ears twitched as he stared down at Flynn with a perplexed frown. "Flynn, I've been here for nearly a week-and-a-half."

Flynn let his mouth drop slightly open as he blinked away a flush of bewilderment. "A whole week?"

"More than a week. Maybe ten days." Luke corrected him.

"How the hell does that work?" Flynn spread out his arms in a sign of bafflement.

He held a bemused expression as Luke countered his question with an equally bewildered shake of his head, "don't ask me, dude."

Flynn dropped his paws back down to his sides with a small thump. "Who else am I supposed to ask?" He stopped for a moment, his ears twitching in thought. "Does that mean I was dead for..." He quickly counted down on his claws fingers, "eight whole days?"

Lucas released an impressed whistle. "Damn. How'd you manage to do that?"

"I don't fucking know!"

"You don't need to yell..."

"I'm not yelling!"

"Yes, you are."

"Go fuck yourself."

"No thanks."

"You're right, that's immoral."

Lucas chuckled at Flynn's finishing statement. "True that, brother." He motioned for Flynn to follow as they began to venture down the paved path. They had to cross the park in order to get into Mrs. White's wealthy neighborhood, which is where they were promised a place to sleep tonight.

Flynn had to take larger steps to keep up with his friend, but he found the extra ounce of exercise meaningful as if gave him something to concentrate on.

He sighed and glanced down at his shorter and furrier body, the thought of dying still hanging like a thin fog in the back of his head. "Eight whole days? That's insane."

"This whole situation is insane," Lucas added, slowing his pace so it would be comfortable for the both of them. "Both of us being brought back here to Zootopia... Maybe that diamond really does give you infinite life." He glanced down at Flynn, who glanced back up at him with a sideways frown.

"I thought you already knew that?" He asked. Lucas shrugged his shoulders in return.

"After I woke up as a human, I just figured that reincarnation came after death. But now that I'm back here in my original body..." He looked back up at the path before finishing, "I'm beginning to think differently."

Flynn nodded and returned his attention forward. "Seems logical..."

"Mhm." He heard Lucas mutter before they both lapsed into a long and uninterrupted silence as they gradually migrated their way out of the park.

Flynn took the time to study his surroundings further. The city was just as beautiful as night as it was in the day. The lights of passing vehicles on nearby streets illuminated the smooth pavements ground while the comfortable lights of buildings, both tall and short, gave the night sky a gentle yellow haze that gently mixed with the gleam full moon's bright white glow.

In the distance, he could see the tops of large walls surroundings parts of the city. He figured those must be what keeps each districts separate climates from spreading to other sections of the city.

After nearly half an hour of silent walking, the two made their way into a more fancy part of town. Larger scale mansions filled the neighborhood as they exited the more urban part of downtown Zootopia.

They passed a sign that read, "Welcome to Windsdale Estates," and Flynn glanced up at Luke curiously as the shuffled into the carefully paved road that traveled into the line of large and magnificent houses.

"Luke, what are we doing here?" He asked as they shifted to the right side of the road to get onto a sidewalk. The wolf answered his friend's question by pointing a small ways down the road to a large, three-story, white brick house. Large windows surrounded the elegant home and gave it an open feel. As the friends got closer, Flynn noticed two bright lights hung on the side of two Greek Columns on the front of the home as they naturally guarded a pair large wooden doors with blurred out framed windows.

A set of matching white stairs flowed out from the bottom of the doors onto a U-shaped driveway that spread down to the curb of the road. A sleek, barred black-metal fence surrounded entire property as it pushed behind a neighboring house and out of sight from Flynn's view on the sidewalk.

"Welcome to my home." Lucas grinned down at Flynn who gazed in puzzled shock at the mansion that seemed to get larger with every step. Flynn raised a suspicious brow at his friend, his ears perking in interest as he inspected the wolf with a critical eye.

"I thought you said you lived in the ghetto?" He questioned Luke who shook his head in response.

"I said I grew up there. Now, I live with my family and Mrs. White at her mansion." Luke still held his grin as Flynn look back in awe of the spectacularly built home. He'd never been up close to a mansion of this scale before, let alone be inside of one.

"My dad works as Mrs. White's personal business-mammal after she had generously offered him a job a few years before I 'left'." Lucas elaborated as they made their way to the front gate of the fence. "She said she saw a waste of talent with my dad's old job so she helped support my family with a new one and an amazing home."

Flynn was surprised. His first encounter with Mrs. White caused him to believed she was a selfish and snooty bitch - Though, he was trespassing in her Club so he had given her a little leeway at the start. But, after hearing what Lucas was saying about her, she didn't sound half bad.

"It was a win-win for the both of us. My family got a better life and Mrs. White's profits soared." He frowned and flicked his ears as the finally reached the gate, "Though, she is passionately obsessed with that diamond. It's almost unhealthy."

Before Flynn could respond, Lucas turned around to reveal a small buzzer on the side of the fence. He pressed it and a small electric hum erupted from the button and they waited patiently for a few seconds. Before long, a gentle and noticeably tired voice answered through a small speaker, "Hello, White and Wolfack family residence, how may we help you?"

Luke waited for the voice to finish before leaning forward towards the buzzer. "Hey Mellina, it's Luke."

"Oh! Welcome back, Lucas! Come on inside." The voice replied as the gate unlocked with a metallic click and began to automatically pull itself out of the way of the driveway. Flynn watched, dumbstruck, as his friend casually strode past the gate and towards the mammoth of a house as if he were going into class.

Luke waved a paw for Flynn to follow and he quickly did so, snapping himself out of his awestruck daze as he stumbled up the driveway.

The doors to the home were even larger up close and the Luke stopped at the entrance to look down at Flynn with a somewhat embarrassed smile.

"Okay, so my family gets really excited when I bring friends over. As a pup, I never really got along with others so getting a good friend was a big achievement." He sighed quietly, "being a wolf didn't help much either."

Flynn let out a small laugh and crossed his arms over his chest, "You not having any friends? That's really hard to believe."

Luke dismissed his laugh with a small wave of his paw. "Believe what you want, it's true. I changed a lot before I met you. Both physically and mentally." He turned to face the doorway, "I just wanted to warn you before you met them. I didn't want you freaking out, ya know?"

"God, if your parents freak out with you bringing friends over, I can't image what they would do if you brought a girlfriend over." Flynn joked as he too turned to face the doors, waiting impatiently for his friend to push open the door.

Luke groaned at Flynn's statement, glancing down at him with a frown. "I'm telling you, man. It's a fucking nightmare." He then used both paws to push open the doors, the light from inside the house quickly flooding onto the driveway as the two stepped inside.

Flynn's jaw dropped at the interior of the home, his eyes widening as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Holy shit! You live here?"

Inside, most of the lights were still on and were brightly illuminating the extravagant innards of the house that matched the beauty of the exterior.

The entryway to the home was a large and grand opening with pearly white floors with golden flowing designs that molded together with two beautiful staircases that led to the second floor that had a perfect view of the doors below. A crystal chandelier parted separated the curved staircases while white-painted wooden fences flowed up their sides and barricaded the side of the second floor while separate walls protected the other side of the stairways.

The second floor vanished out of view, but the first floor continued forward into a large and open living room with soft brown carpet rugs holding onto leathery couches. To Flynn's left and right were more openings that led to different paths to the living room that was most likely connected to the kitchen.

The open space was littered decoratively with small desks and stands against the soft brown and white painted walls that gave the house a welcoming atmosphere.

"Alright, so my family's probably asleep."

The sound of Lucas's voice brought Flynn out of his open-mouthed trance and he quickly fixed his posture and did his best not to stare around at the house or the strange paintings he was beginning to notice along the far walls.

"Which is a good thing!" Lucas began to walk deeper into the home and Flynn naturally followed. "That just means we can postpone the awkward introduction until tomorrow."

The two migrated past the grand stairwells into the open spaced Livingroom. Inside were the leathery-looking couches Flynn had noticed earlier, all facing a brick-framed fireplace attached to a clean white wall. Above the fireplace was a large flat-screen TV that hung off the wall by a sleek black metal mount.

Behind Flynn was the kitchen, a wide expanse of cabinets, granite countertops and beautiful chrome appliances. Dangling lights hung over the counters while ceiling lights illuminated the rest of the living room.

"I'm sure my family will want to take you on the tour of the house tomorrow, so I'll allow them to do it so I don't have to." Lucas yawned while he pointed towards the closest piece of plush furniture. "For now, you can sleep here."

Flynn didn't question it, though he didn't doubt that the home had guest bedrooms. "Sounds good to me."

He gently slipped onto the couch, sighing in satisfaction as he sunk into the cushions. His whole body only took up two full cushion lengths, but he didn't mind the extra length of the couch; it was obviously designed for larger animals.

Lucas yawned once more, raising a paw to his muzzle as he turned to exit the living room. "Alright, if you need me," he pointed upwards at the textured ceiling, "I'll be upstairs."

Flynn sat up and glared quizzically at his friend. "How the hell am I supposed to find your room?"

The wolf dismissed Flynn's question with a flick of his tail. "Just ask one of the housemaids. They'll show you." Luke lifted his paws and clapped three times and the lights in the living room quickly shut off, leaving Flynn alone in the dark.

Flynn was about to ask another question about what to do in the morning, but his friend was already traveling out of 'inside voice' range as he shuffled out of the living room in a rushed attempt to get to bed.

 _Fuck it. I'll deal with that issue when I get to it._

He shuffled his body into a comfortable position on the cushions and stared up at the dark abyss where the ceiling should be. The windows along a far wall in the living room didn't help with the lighting issue as they were covered in heavy curtains.

He crossed his paws over his chest awkwardly as he lay on the unfamiliar, but extremely comfortable, couch inside of an unfamiliar home, in an unfamiliar and strange world with nothing but his thoughts to accompany his exhausted and unfamiliar body.

 _At least I'm not in that alleyway..._ He thought quietly as he sunk deeper into the couches embrace.

Gradually, Flynn was able to push away his discomforting thoughts as the darkness of Flynn's closed eyes matched that of the living room and he slowly fell into the depths of sleep, his mind finally shutting down for the night.

* * *

 _There's chapter 4! Finally!_

 _I hope you all enjoyed it! Sorry again if I took forever to write it. Feel free to leave a review! Constructive criticism, tips, ideas, etc. are always awesome to receive!_

 _Thanks again, and enjoy your day!_


	5. Sneak peak of: A Warm Welcome

**Chapter 5**

 _ **A Warm Welcome**_

 _I apologize for the long wait, again. I also apologize for the fact that this isn't a full chapter. I've been stuck in a rut of being totally unmotivated to write, being sick, and other dumb stuff. (I know, excuses, excuses.) I've begun to feel pretty guilty about it (I'm too apologetic, I can hear it). I'm just going to be optimistic about it and continue to write to the best of my abilities! Now, without further delay, here is **part** of the 5th chapter of "New Soil."_

* * *

Flynn walked silently alone down an empty sidewalk with his paws stuffed in his pockets and his grey hoody up. He didn't know the actual time, but he assumed it was nearly past midnight as the moon was out and the street lamps were trying their damned hardest to keep the parallel roads brightly illuminated with their flickering orange glow. Surprisingly, the city seemed quiet and the road was just as empty as the sidewalk he trudged across. The world was leaving him alone with his equally empty head.

The world seemed off. He could see the skyscrapers of Zootopia surrounding him, but the road he walked beside looked nearly identical to the one that had changed and ended his life back 'home'. Slowly, Flynn noticed the yellow beams of headlights shining from a small car traveling across the opposite side of the road, the sound of spinning tires on cooled asphalt creeping into his sensitive ears. The closer the car came, the more he began to recognize the vehicle. The Grey Pontiac slithered along the road and he noticed two shapes wiggling around through the dimmed windows, one much more sporadic than the other.

Just as Flynn began to lean forward to peer closer at the car, a large Semi came at dangerous speeds right beside him. The wind from the passing truck nearly throwing the Fox off balance as he watched the larger vehicle speed closer to the now swerving Pontiac.

 _No fucking way..._ Flynn thought to himself as he watched in growing horror as the Pontiac, his old car, take a hard and shaky left straight towards the unsuspecting Semi-Truck.

The collision was both spectacular and horrific. The driver side of the car crunched up against the Semi and the rest of the vehicle was sent into a spinning frenzy. The sound of metal smashing together and glass shattering filled the air as pairs of screeching tires screamed across the road, leaving black stains as the Pontiac flew farther away from the merely dented Semi-truck. Flynn noticed a human arm flail out from the mostly smashed driver side window as the car tipped onto its side, squishing the arm under its weight and tearing the flesh as it skidded back into its correct lane. Blood was already beginning to pool out from the cars crippled body.

The car was eventually forced to a stop by a quickly parked red Mini-van that had miraculously joined the Semi on the road along with multiple other vehicles.

Flynn stared from his spot on the sidewalk as even more cars began to pull into the road and people, humans, began to rush out of them towards the screams of pain inside of the nearly destroyed car. The sounds of Sirens began to fill Flynn's ears and pain began to grind up his arm and legs to fill his body.

Flynn wanted to rush over to see the crash up close, but his feet were firmly glued to the sidewalk and he could only spectate as Emergency Personel began to arrive and pick away at the tipped vehicle, their vehicles red and blue flashing lights bouncing off of the pavement and across the multiple stopped cars. He saw Lucas get dragged from the car, his drunken friend falling limp in the arms of two young Paramedics as tears streamed down the college student's cheeks and blood poured from the cuts from the shattered glass on his body.

In distastefull anticipation, Flynn waited for his own body to be plucked out from the car. He saw the Emergency Crews cutting away at the door before they gently began to remove it. Their work revealed the crumpled and unrecognizable mess that was once Flynn's body. His arm was a rangled blob on the road and the glass along his face and body gave his body unclean puncture wounds that threatened to peel off of his body. His legs were still trapped beneath the front of the car, but Flynn didn't want to see anymore.

He could feel his body begin to gag and he closed his eyes tightly, growling as the pain of the crash suddenly rushed back into his veins.

"Luke! He's growling! Why is he growling?" An unfamiliar kids voice, one that couldn't be over fifteen, burst into his ears.

 _What the hell?_ Flynn flinched from the unexpected sound, turning around in circles to search for the voice and instantly stopping the growl he hadn't realized he had started.

"David, don't bother him!" Lucas's voice joined in while a few quiet muffles popped up in the back of Flynn's head.

Flynn felt a flash of exhaustion wash over him and the world around him went black, leaving the car crash behind in a blurry flash of darkness. His eyes quickly felt heavy and he struggled to open them as a light above him threatened to pierce his pupils in half.

He saw two blurry forms hovering over him, both similar in color and shape. He felt a heavy blanket press over his body while his body pressed against compressed couch cushions.

At first, Flynn couldn't comprehend what was happening. His eyes were still working hard to focus and his arms and legs felt too heavy to kick off the blanket that trapped him.

He could smell a delicious and warm scent hovering over him that reminded him of homemade breakfasts by his mother.

"Flynn?"

Flynn glanced up at the taller shape, raising a drowsy brow at Lucas as memories of being at his friend's mansion and his unnatural circumstances burst into his consciousness. As soon as those memories came back, so did the ones about his dream - His first ever in Zootopia, not a very good start to any future dreams.

"Aw, shit...," Flynn mumbled as he forced himself to sit up, slowly brushing the blankets off of his body while leaning back against the backrest of the couch. He heard a small gasp and he tilted his gaze to look back up at the larger mammals in front of him.

"Lucas! He said-" The smaller of the black wolves, which Flynn assumed was named David, complained before Lucas quickly interrupted and silenced him.

"David, shush! It's not a big deal." Lucas glared at the younger wolf, who crossed his arms and silently pouted in return before they both returned their attention back to Flynn, David holding a childish frown.

He blinked drowsily at his friend and lifted his paws to rub the red-tinted tiredness out of his blue eyes. "Sorry," he apologized. He hadn't had the issue of having to watch his language since he lived back with his family.

Lucas shrugged and tilted his head, "Eh, no worries dude." He gave Flynn a quick pat on his shoulder and folded his ears behind his head in a concerned look, "Bad dream?"

Flynn nodded and tilted his head back in a yawn, running his paws down his face. "Car crash..."

Lucas's ears perked back up and he quickly replied with his own nod, "Oh."

"Yeah..."

Flynn could see that David was obviously confused, the pup's ears perked up and his head tilted at an odd angle as he glanced quizzically up at his brother. "Car crash?"

Lucas waved a paw at his brother, brushing him away with an annoyed flick his tail. "It's nothing, David. Just go eat breakfast or something."

David growled quietly, slapping his siblings paw away before stomping away in his Blue-plaid pajama pants and "Space Wars" T-Shirt. Lucas looked back at Flynn, ignoring his brother's frustration.

"Sorry about that. That's David," he glanced back to make sure his brother was out of the living room, "my annoying ass little brother."

Flynn chuckled. "That's totally relatable." Flynn had had multiple younger siblings back when he was Human. Unfortunately, he was the oldest so he understood the frustration that came with younger siblings.

Lucas grinned before reaching out to help Flynn out of his spot on the couch who now stood a good few feet below his taller friend. "We've got breakfast ready in the kitchen. My mom made pancakes."

Flynn's stomach growled at the word and he eagerly took Lucas's paw. "That's what that smell is? I haven't had pancakes in forever!" His hunger quickly took over his drowsiness and his ears perked in anticipation as the smell of syrup and toasted pancakes came back to fill his nose.

He was about to follow his friend out of the open living room when a thought came to his head.

"Wait, Lucas." He paused and his friend did the same, lowering a quizzical brow at the Fox. "I haven't met all your family yet. Wouldn't it be weird for me just to pop in and just eat breakfast?"

Lucas grinned at Flynn's question and shook his head. "Nah, don't worry about it! I already explained to them who you are."

Flynn raised a curious ear at Lucas, "You mean, you explained _everything?"_ He put a bit more emphasis on the word "everything," obviously implying about his human life.

Lucas caught onto Flynn's hint and nodded, motioning for him to follow him to the kitchen. "Yes, everything. They're my parents so they were the first ones I told about my experience as a human," he paused for a second, a thought visibly sliding into his brain, "God that's a weird word. Anyways, you'll be fine. I told them not to ask too many questions."

Flynn hesitated for a few seconds, uneasily sliding his paws into his pockets before deciding to trust Lucas and followed the black-furred wolf to the kitchen across the hall.

* * *

 _I hope you enjoyed it! Again, sorry for the long wait. I'll be sure to do my best to get chapters for both of my stories up and posted. I just wanted to give out a little bit of the story without spoiling it all. I'm ready for some exciting shit to happen!_

 _Anyways, sorry if I got your hopes up for a new chapter! Please don't be mad at me._

 _Enjoy your day!_


	6. Chapter 5: A Warm Welcome?

**Chapter 5**

 _ **A Warm Welcome?**_

 _I apologize for the long wait, again. I've been stuck in a rut of being totally unmotivated to write, being sick, and other dumb stuff. (I know, excuses, excuses.) I've begun to feel pretty guilty about it (I'm too apologetic, I can hear it). I'm just going to be optimistic about it and continue to write to the best of my abilities! Now, without further delay, here is_ the 5th _chapter of "New Soil."_

* * *

Flynn walked silently alone down an empty sidewalk with his paws stuffed in his pockets and his grey hoody up over his folded ears. He didn't know the actual time, but he assumed it was almost past midnight as the moon was out and the street lamps were trying their damned hardest to keep the parallel roads brightly illuminated with their flickering orange glow. Surprisingly, the city seemed quiet and the road was just as empty as the sidewalk he trudged across. The air was cold against his body, slithering through his fur and across his skin, making him shiver everytime a small breeze whistled across the road. For now, he was alone with his empty thoughts.

But the world seemed off. He could see the skyscrapers of Zootopia surrounding him, but the road he walked beside looked nearly identical to the one that had changed and ended his life back 'home'. Slowly, Flynn noticed the yellow beams of headlights shining from a small car traveling across the opposite side of the road, the sound of spinning tires on cooled asphalt whirring into his sensitive ears. The closer the car came, the more he began to recognize the vehicle. The Grey Pontiac slithered along the road and he noticed two shapes wiggling around through the dimmed windows, one much more sporadic than the other.

Flynn leaned forward and winced, trying to peer closer to the vehicle. His ears perked as he heard the loud and dull sound of larger tires spiraling on the road behind him and he quickly took a step back. The wind from the passing semi-truck nearly threw him off balance as he watched the larger vehicle speed closer to the now swerving Pontiac.

 _No way..._ Flynn thought to himself as he watched in growing horror as the Pontiac, his old car, take a hard and shaky left straight towards the unsuspecting Semi.

The collision was both spectacular and horrific. The driver side of the car crunched up against the Semi and the rest of the vehicle was sent into a spinning frenzy, the back wheels lifting off the ground and spinning in place. The sound of metal smashing together and glass shattering and cracking against the pavement filled the air as pairs of screeching tires screamed across the road, leaving black stains as the Pontiac flew farther away from the merely dented Semi-truck. Flynn noticed a human arm flail out from the mostly smashed driver side window as the car tipped onto its side, squishing the arm under its weight and tearing the flesh as it skidded back into its correct lane. Blood was already beginning to pool out from the cars crippled body.

The car was eventually forced to a stop by a quickly parked red Mini-van that had miraculously joined the Semi on the road which had come to a stop along with multiple other vehicles that had appeared.

Flynn stared from his spot on the sidewalk as even more cars began to pull into the road and people, humans, began to rush out of them towards the screams of pain inside of the nearly destroyed car. The sounds of Sirens began to fill Flynn's ears and aching pain began to grind up his arm and legs to fill his body.

Flynn wanted to rush over to see the crash up close, but his feet were firmly glued to the sidewalk and he could only spectate as Emergency Personel began to arrive and pick away at the tipped vehicle, their vehicles red and blue flashing lights bouncing off of the pavement and across the hoods of the many parked cars. He saw Lucas get dragged from the car, his drunken friend falling limp in the arms of two young Paramedics as tears streamed down the college student's cheeks and blood poured from the cuts from the shattered glass on his body.

In distastefull anticipation, Flynn waited for his own body to be plucked out from the car. He saw the Emergency Crews cutting away at the door before they gently began to remove it. Their work revealed the crumpled and unrecognizable mess that was once Flynn's body. His arm was a rangled blob on the road and the glass along his face and body gave his body unclean puncture wounds that threatened to peel off of his body. His legs were still trapped beneath the front of the car, but Flynn didn't want to see anymore.

He could feel his body begin to gag and he closed his eyes tightly, growling as the pain of the crash suddenly rushed back into his veins.

"Luke! He's growling! Why is he growling?" An unfamiliar kids voice, one that couldn't be over fifteen, bubbled into his ears.

 _What the hell?_ Flynn flinched at the unexpected sound, turning around in circles to search for the voice and instantly stopping the growl he hadn't realized he had started.

"David, don't bother him!" Lucas's voice joined in while a few quiet muffles popped up in the back of Flynn's head.

Flynn felt a flash of exhaustion wash over him, his arms growing heavy and his legs growing weak, and the world around him went black, leaving the car crash behind in a blurry flash of darkness. His eyes quickly felt heavy and he struggled to open them as a light above him threatened to pierce his pupils in half.

He saw two blurry forms hovering over him, both similar in color and shape. He felt a heavy blanket press over his body while his body pressed against compressed couch cushions.

At first, Flynn couldn't comprehend what was happening. His eyes were still working hard to focus and his arms and legs felt too heavy to kick off the blanket that trapped him.

He could smell a delicious and warm scent hovering over him that reminded him of homemade breakfasts by his mother.

"Flynn?"

Flynn glanced up at the taller shape, raising a drowsy brow at Lucas, his friends gray hoodie slowly focusing out from apart of his fur as memories of being at his friend's mansion and his unnatural circumstances burst into his consciousness. As soon as those memories came back, so did the ones about his dream - His first ever in Zootopia, not a very good start to any future dreams.

"Aw, shit...," Flynn mumbled as he forced himself to sit up, slowly brushing the blankets off of his body while leaning back against the backrest of the couch. He heard a small gasp and he tilted his gaze to look back up at the larger mammals in front of him.

"Lucas! He said-" The smaller of the black wolves, which Flynn assumed was named David, complained before Lucas quickly interrupted and silenced him.

"David, shush! It's not a big deal." Lucas glared at the younger wolf, who crossed his arms and silently pouted in return before they both returned their attention back to Flynn, David holding a childish frown.

He blinked drowsily at his friend and lifted his paws to rub the red-tinted tiredness out of his blue eyes. "Sorry," he apologized. He hadn't had the issue of having to watch his language since he lived back with his family.

Lucas shrugged and tilted his head to the side, "Eh, no worries dude." He gave Flynn a quick pat on his shoulder and folded his ears behind his head in a concerned look, "Bad dream?"

Flynn nodded and tilted his head back in a yawn, running his paws down his face. "Car crash..." He mumbled the two distressing words, briefly summing up his nightmare.

Lucas's ears perked back up and he quickly replied with his own nod, "Oh."

"Yeah..."

Flynn could see that David was obviously confused, the pup's ears perked up and his head tilted at an odd angle as he glanced quizzically up at his brother. "Car crash?"

Lucas waved a paw at his brother, brushing him away with an annoyed flick his tail. "It's nothing, David. Just go eat breakfast or something."

David growled quietly, slapping his sibling's paw away, "What car crash?"

"David!" Lucas's expression turned serious, his brows pinching together and his tone deepening with a small growl.

David flattened his ears, huffed, and lifted his crossed arms over his chest before stomping away in his Blue-plaid pajama pants and "Space Wars" T-Shirt. Lucas looked back at Flynn, ignoring his brother's frustration.

"Sorry about that. That's David," he glanced back to make sure his brother was out of the living room, "my annoying ass little brother."

Flynn chuckled. "That's totally relatable." Flynn had had multiple younger siblings back when he was Human. Unfortunately, he was the oldest so he understood the frustration that came with younger siblings.

Lucas grinned before reaching out to help Flynn out of his spot on the couch. He took his paw and stood up and stared up at Lucas, who now stood a good few feet below his taller friend. His friend smiled, "We've got breakfast ready in the kitchen. My mom made pancakes."

Flynn's stomach growled at the word and he eagerly licked his lips, the familiar taste of pancakes sliding from his memories to his tongue. "That's what that smell is? I haven't had pancakes in forever!" His hunger quickly took over his drowsiness and his ears perked in anticipation as the smell of syrup and toasted pancakes came back to fill his nose.

He was about to follow his friend out of the open living room when a thought came to his head.

"Wait, Lucas," he paused and his friend did the same, lowering a quizzical brow at the Fox. "I haven't met all your family yet. Wouldn't it be weird for me just to pop in and just eat their breakfast?"

Lucas grinned at Flynn's question and shook his head. "Nah, don't worry about it! I already explained to them who you are."

Flynn raised a curious ear at Lucas, "You mean, you explained _everything?"_ He put a bit more emphasis on the word "everything," obviously implying about their human life.

Lucas caught onto Flynn's hint and nodded, motioning for him to follow him to the kitchen. "Yes, everything," he gave the word the same amount of emphasis and motioned with his paw for Flynn to continue walking. "They're my parents, so they were the first ones I told about my experience as a human," he paused for a second, a thought visibly sliding into his brain. "God that's a weird word." He quietly repeated it a few times, rolling the letters off of his tongue and lips. "Human. Human? Human... Anyways, you'll be fine. I told them not to ask too many questions."

Flynn flicked his tail at his friend's calm attitude towards his parents knowing and believing him. The movement of the extra appendage was beginning to feel natural.

 _They must be very trusting parents..._ He hesitated for a few seconds, uneasily sliding his paws into his pockets before deciding to trust Lucas and followed the black-furred wolf to the kitchen across the short hall.

He could hear the clatter of silverware scraping against ceramic plates and mixed voices gently mixed in conversation as he shuffled along the cold wood floors of the hallway, occasionally glancing up at his taller friend who stepped confidently ahead. Lucas smiled down at Flynn, clapping his paws excitedly together, "I'm so excited for my family to meet you! I've told them a lot about you," he bounced a pointer finger down at him, "I did leave out the way you died. I just told them we were both in an accident. I spared them the details."

Lucas pointed his attention back ahead of himself as the hallway opened back up to reveal the kitchen. Flynn slowly followed him and stepped out from the hallway, his eyes widening at the impressive, and tall, space.

The room opened up to a tall ceiling with multiple embedded lights in carefully placed spots to illuminate the room for comfortable lighting. The lights reflected gently against a stained wooden table stood at the far end of the room next to a large glass sliding door that had sliding blinds over it. A bar-like kitchen counter with granite countertops stood beside it on top of the wood floors that spanned across the entire house. A simple gold chandelier hung over the counter and tall wooden stools that matched the wood of the cabinets sat underneath the overlying lip of the countertop. Impressive modern silver kitchen appliances filled the rest of the kitchen, hugging the walls and filling the rest of the counters.

David sat on one of the stools, childishly rocking it side to side on its legs as he stared hungrily at a pan of fresh steamy brown pancakes on a white ceramic plate. Two other wolves stood on the opposite side of the counter, one visibly more slim and lighter furred than the other. The wolf wore a simple white T-shirt with a colorful flower patterned apron tied behind her neck. She was busying herself with making the families breakfast, sliding pancakes off a griddle and onto the growing stack of pancakes on the plate. Flynn assumed that she was Luke's mother while the wolf beside her that shared Luke's fur color was his father. He wore a business casual white collared T-shirt and blue jeans. After taking a second glance, Flynn noticed that David's fur was a shade or two lighter than Luke's.

His ears perked up when his friend clapped his paws together to grab his families attention. Three pairs of wide green eyes turned curiously towards the two friends, their earlier conversations ending abruptly as the clap echoed through the kitchen.

"Mom, Dad! This is Flynn, my friend I was telling you about." Lucas lowered his paws and pointed towards him with a big smile on his muzzle as if he were showing off some art project he was proud of. Flynn noticed David frown and rest his elbow on the counter and his chin in his paws. He was obviously still butt-hurt about earlier. While David showed his uninterest, the faces of Luke's parents lit up excitedly and their smiles perked up with their ears. He could feel their eyes scanning over him as he lifted a semi-nervous wave.

"Heyo," he said, flicking his tail at his awkwardness. It felt strange, usually, he was a very social person but he felt very out of place as he stared up at Luke's family. Maybe it was the height difference, they stood at least three to four feet above him.

"Hi!"

Luke's mother was the first to respond as she quickly dropped what she was doing to round the corner of the kitchen. She held a very calm and motherly smile as she walked over to meet them. "I'm Lucas's mom, Rachel! It's great to finally meet you!"

Flynn smiled at her hospitable tone as it quickly diminished his uneasiness and he stuck out a paw, expecting a friendly hand-paw-shake. Instead, he was suddenly met with two soft-furred arms wrapping around his body in a warm and gentle hug.

Taken off-guard, Flynn didn't have time to return the hug before Rachel backed off and stood up straight, holding her smile as she returned to inspecting him from above. "It's so nice to put a face to his friends he talks about!"

A deeper voice intruded into the conversation and Rachel turned to glance back at the kitchen.

"We were beginning to think he made you up!"

Flynn raised a brow as Luke's father spoke up from his place behind the kitchen counter and he noticed the wolf's friendly and humorous grin.

"He talked about you like you were some fantasy crush he dreamt about." He stepped out from the kitchen with an outstretched paw, ignoring his son's small frown, "I'm Benjamin, but you can call me Ben."

Flynn accepted the paw-shake and gave Ben a curious nod towards Lucas, "How much did he tell you about me?"

Ben stuffed his paws into his pockets and shrugged, sighing as he glanced up in thought. "Pfft... I'm exaggerating a little bit with the whole crush thing, but he did say he met you in college and that you two were roommates." He glanced at Lucas with a joking smirk and crossed his arms, "Which is strange because I never thought this lazy pup would ever make it to any sort of university."

Lucas groaned and flattened his ears.

"C'mon Dad..."

"Oh, C'mon Lucas! I'm just messin' with you."

Flynn chuckled at the father-son exchange. He was already warming up to Luke's family. It was comforting to have such a cheerful atmosphere to smooth out the worries of the past few days.

A childish wine came from the kitchen and the family turned to see David pouting on his stool as he stared at them with disapproval.

"Mom, the pancakes are gonna burn!"

"Oh!" Rachel's body perked up and she rushed back to the griddle to flip the pancakes she had forgotten about, "Sorry David! Hey, why don't you go meet Flynn?"

David held his frown and glared at Flynn. "No thanks." He crossed his arms and shook his head, avoiding eye contact with his mother as he stared at his empty plate.

"Oof, ouch." Flynn put a paw up to his heart and smiled, jokingly taking David's denial personal.

Ben turned around to raise a curious brow at the pup and opened his mouth to speak, "Davi-"

"Lucas!"

A stern female voice spoke over him and the family's attention was torn away from David to Mrs. White standing at the end of the hallway behind Flynn and Lucas. Her arms were crossed over her red velvet dress and a matching purse hung from her shoulder. It seemed to Flynn that she always had something formal to wear. Her brows were pushed together and her tail flicked back and forth in clear agitation while her fingers tapped slowly against her opposite arm.

Lucas had turned around to face her, his body slightly stiffened in confusion. "Yes, Mrs. White?"

The slightly taller Leopard lifted a paw from her arm and began to curl her pointer finger, motioning for him to get closer. "Come here, Lucas," she glanced down at Flynn, her heated stare burrowing itself into his fur, "and bring your friend."

 _Aw, shit,_ Flynn internally groaned and he glanced up at Lucas who frowned back at him. Lucas turned back to his parents and smiled, "We'll be right back, save us some pancakes?"

"Uh, sure?" Ben looked confused, but he didn't question anything. "I hope you didn't break anything." He gave a quick glance up to Mrs. White, who held an unpleasant frown, before walking back into the kitchen beside his wife.

Flynn followed Lucas as he walked down the hallway towards Mrs. White. He stuffed his paws into his pockets uneasily as the predator's sizzling blue eyes never wavered away from his smaller body and he couldn't lift his gaze to meet it. He hated how short he was compared to nearly every other mammal in the city and he desperately wanted his average height back.

He came to a stop beside Lucas a few feet away from Mrs. White as he could feel her gaze staring down at him from above.

"What's up, Mrs. White?" Lucas sounded casual. Flynn wouldn't tell if he was nervous or not. He glanced up as Mrs. Whites gaze switched from him to Lucas, her face scrunching up in distaste.

"What's up?' What do you mean, 'what's up?" Her ears flicked in agitation and Flynn watched Lucas as his ears flattened and his brows furrowed in confusion. Mrs. White didn't let him reply before she continued, "What did I tell you about letting _him_ stay here?" She finished her statement with a stiff point towards Flynn, her claw pointing directly between his eyes.

"Um," Lucas paused for a moment, his tail twitching hesitantly, "you said he could stay here if he stole back the diamond."

Mrs. White scoffed, her chest puffing out loathingly, "not steal it!" She rested her paws on her hips and frowned, "Retrieve it. Those damned lions are the ones who stole it from me."

Flynn glanced uneasily at Luke, unsure of what he should do. His friend's ears flattened in irritation and Flynn could tell he was holding back a lot of sensitive words with the light growl that slipped from his muzzle.

"That sooner he gets me my diamond, the sooner he can sleep in my house!" Mrs. White raised her voice and Flynn's ears perked as the echo bounced down the hallway. "And remember what will happen if he fails to 'retrieve' it." She glared down at Flynn with a devilish smirk.

"Bitch..." Flynn muttered under his breath.

"What did you call me?"

His eyes widened as Mrs. White snarled and he flattened his ears at his mistake. He'd forgotten that animals had better hearing that what he was used to with humans.

"Uh, nothing." He quickly stuffed his paws into his pockets and did his best to avoid eye contact with the leopard as she flicked her tail in tangible distaste.

"Mhm..." She tore her eyes away from Flynn and flicked her gaze back to Lucas and pointed her paw towards the front door, "I want him gone and I don't want to see his pathetic muzzle here unless he gets me back my precious diamond."

Lucas was about to protest, his muzzle half open before Mrs. White interrupted him, "But Mrs. Whi-"

"Get him out of my home!" She stomped her foot on the wooden floor and forcefully re-pointed her paw towards the door, the thud from the impact enforcing her demand as her words threw pointed shards of anger towards the wolf, causing him to flinch and take a step back in surprise.

After a few seconds of recovery, Lucas's tail drooped to the floor in defeat and he tilted his head towards Flynn with a depleted frown. After a small motion for him to follow, Flynn trailed behind his friend as he shuffled past Mrs. White and towards the front door. He could feel the burning sensation of the leopard staring at his back as he reached the large wooden door.

Lucas pushed the door open and the creak of the hinges slithered into the silence of the house. The sounds of Luke's family's breakfast had also stopped and Flynn assumed they had been eavesdropping on their previous altercation.

The dull morning air breathed into the room and brushed along Flynn's fur as he quickly stepped outside in order to escape the hold of Mrs. Whites scrutinizing gaze. The sun's orange light spilled over the roof of the house and the sounds of Zootopia filtered into the atmosphere around them. He felt his paws grip onto the cement steps as he stepped down the front steps.

He heard the door click shut behind him and a small sigh pour out of Lucas's mouth. He turned around to see his friend standing with his paw still firmly gripped around the door handle and his head down at his feet. His friend lifted his gaze to give Flynn an apologetic expression.

"God man, I'm sorry. I didn't think she would get so pissed off like that..." Lucas said with a hint of twisted disappointment.

Flynn shrugged and waved a paw dismissal towards him, "Don't worry about it, dude. She's just an asshole." Lucas shook his head and frowned.

"I swear she's never acted like that around me before," he let go of the door handle and teetered down the front steps to stand beside Flynn. "I guess a lot of things can change when you've been in a coma for almost a year, huh?"

Flynn raised an ear at Lucas, a little confused at his statement. "Only a year? I thought you were a human for more than that."

Lucas nodded, "It's probably some strange disproportionate time-warp shit. My parents told me I was asleep for only a year even though I was a human for almost four years." He groaned and rubbed his eyes before rubbing his paws down his muzzle in a stressed manner, "but again, sorry for Mrs. White being such an ass."

"Eh," Flynn shrugged, "I think I'll have to get used to being disliked here anyways." He glanced down at his body, inspecting his smaller frame and fur covered appendages, "I'm beginning to think Foxes aren't very... Likable?"

Lucas shrugged and began to walk down the sidewalk to the front gate and Flynn naturally followed. "Yeah, and I honestly couldn't tell you why some mammals dislike them. It's probably some prey-spread stereotype that gives them a bad rep."

The front gates began to open automatically as they approached them and the two friends walked out of the houses enclosed perimeter onto the rough pavement of the sidewalk outside of the gates. Flynn flicked his tail as a question bubbled to the surface of his mind, one that had been bothering him since Mrs. White had first threatened to blackmail him.

"Hey, Luke."

"Yeah?"

"How the hell am I supposed to do this?" Flynn paused for a second, searching for the correct words to use to explain his question further. "Like, how am I supposed to steal this diamond from a house I've never seen before without getting caught by a family of apparently evil Lions?"

They continued to walk down the sidewalk, their steps mixing the sounds of the outdoors and the distant ambient noise of the city.

Luke shrugged, "I honestly have no idea how you're gonna 'retrieve'," he lifted quotation marks with his fingers on the word retrieve, "the diamond." He sighed, again, and flicked his tail in thought. "We might just have to wing it."

Flynn raised a brow at his taller friend, "wing it? Are you serious?"

Luke shrugged again, "I don't know! I've never really met the Maines before, let alone ever go inside of their house."

Flynn groaned at the odds stacked towards their failure. It was as if Mrs. White cared more about getting him arrested than getting her diamond back into her paws. "Dude, I'm definitely gonna get caught..."

"Nah!"

Lucas leaned down to give Flynn a reassuring pat on the back. "I'm sure you'll be fine! And besides, if all else fails, you've got friends in the ZPD, right?"

Flynn frowned, remembering the two officers, Nick and Judy, who had helped him on his first night in Zootopia. "Um, I guess you could call them friends. I've only really met them once."

"Well, it's better than nothing," Lucas said as he stuffed his paws into his pockets and flicked his tail casually below him.

"Ha, yeah..." Flynn felt a sinking feeling inside of his gut as his previous anxiety about being in Zootopia began to return and it caused a shiver to climb up his spine. "Either way, I'll get arrested. Either I get caught by the Maines or Mrs. White get's me locked up for eating some of her shitty-ass sandwiches."

He heard Lucas let out a prolonged sigh before the wolf shifted his gaze down to Flynn. "Well, then we should probably start planning on how to get that diamond back in a way that won't get you sent to jail."

Flynn nodded and squeezed his paws into his pant pockets, flicking his tail quietly behind him as the thought of spending time in the jail of a city that didn't like foxes boiled at the back of his skull...

 _Just my luck too, huh?_

He lifted his gaze up to meet his friend's eyes with a half-humorous smile, "That would be awesome..."

* * *

 _There you have it, an abrupt ending to chapter 5! Sorry for the long wait, again. I've been trying my best to get enough time to continue writing my stories and I'm glad I have two of them to broaden my options on what I want to write about. If anyone wants to see anything in this story, feel free to suggest ideas! No idea is a bad idea and no question is a stupid question. I plan for the next chapter to be a little a lot more exciting than this one and I'm thinking I'm gonna get right into some action!_

 _I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!_


	7. Chapter 6: The Diamond: Part 1

_**Chapter 6**_

 _ **The Diamond: Part 1**_

 _This is easily the longest chapter I've ever written for either of my stories, so I hope it makes up for the long wait! I've been forced to revert to writing on my mobile device because the laptop I had been using for most of this story decided to get old and die out._

 _So, please let me know of any errors that I've missed so that I can come back and correct them! I always appreciate a little constructive criticism._

 _Thanks for being patient and enjoy chapter 6!_

* * *

Flynn stared at the disturbingly accurate outline of the inside of the Maine's house for the thousandth time that night. The large white rollout paper was stretched out across the secluded park bench Lucas had picked out and a singular old street lamp hung over them, its light flickering occasionally as electricity surged through its decaying bulb.

There were surprisingly no camera's in their section of the city park and the table was concealed from the rest of the world by a surrounding wall of tall hedges, the perfect public place to plan a low-budget robbery of a high-end family's home with twenty-four-seven home security cameras and alarm systems.

The streetlamp's dying orange light illuminated the outline to the best of its abilities, unable to push past the shadows of Flynn and Lucas that hovered over the corners of the paper.

Flynn groaned as felt an uneasy shiver crawl up his spine like a crooked centipede. The hassle of the past two days had been begun to build up and he could feel the tension of the situation flutter in his stomach.

With the restless feeling of secretly sleeping in Mrs. White's shed and the tension of her pigheaded attitude, the strain of the nights had begun to fluctuate Flynn's stress levels. It had taken Lucas almost an hour to convince the pampered leopard to allow them to borrow/purchase some supplies they would need in order to steal, or "retrieve", her precious diamond.

It had taken him another half an hour of nagging to persuade her stubborn ass to let them use her extensive outline that they were now studying so intensely.

With the budget of four-hundred dollars, that Mrs. White had so graciously provided them out of the six-hundred they had asked for, they had managed to buy most of the supplies they needed.

Obviously, they had bought crisp black clothing that consisted of cargo pants and a hoodie plus masks to cover their muzzles and black beanies to cover their ears along with gloves and long black underwear that slipped uncomfortably over their tails and feet.

Putting on the spandex-like material over a dense cover of fur was like putting on thick snow pants over a pair of loose-fitting pajamas and trying to keep them from curling underneath. It was annoying, but it was better than nothing. The more they could do to conceal their identities and species, the less likely the Maines or ZPD would find out who had stolen the diamond.

Then, they had purchased two solid black backpacks so they could carry any supplies they needed. High-quality walkie-talkies with earpieces and two holstered tasers. Lucas said he knew a guy and had apparently gotten them for cheap and semi-illegally. Personally, Flynn thought they could get away without buying the tasers, but he did feel a pinch safer with it strapped to his belt. He'd rather tase one of the Maines then be caught.

With the rest of the money, they bought a lock-picking kit (which was surprisingly easy to find in the local shops), digital watches, and two flashlights.

Overall, the plan was strategically simple. The Maine's mansion had a glass sliding door leading into their backyard. They would hop the metal fence with the help of a four-step ladder Flynn had found in Mrs. White's shed and enter the home through it. It could take some lock-picking, but they were hoping one of the Maine's cubs would have accidentally left it unlocked so they could avoid it. Lucas had apparently done some "extensive" research on lock-picking, but Flynn knew his friend had probably searched up a few simple videos and called it good enough.

Once inside, they believed the Diamon would be showcased somewhere on the upper level of the house. According to the outline, the Maines kept a plethora of expensive and rare items in clear sight of the kitchen and living room so they could show off their possessions to their guests.

If they could pick the simple lock on the glass case, they would be able to take the diamond and carry it back down through the basement and out the sliding door without being caught. Getting back over the fence would be a struggle, but they decided they would face that problem when the reached it.

Lucas tapped a clawed finger on the backstretch of the fence that they planned to climb over, finishing the explanation of the plan once again.

"Then we'll haul ass away from there and take the scenic route back home," Lucas finished, tracing his finger off of the outline and onto the park bench. Flynn glanced pessimistically up at his friend who met his gaze with a small frown.

Lucas shook his head. "Flynn, it'll work. You've just gotta think positively about it."

Flynn raised a quizzical brow, his friend's reassurance not dissipating the plaguing doubt in his mind. "Dude, how the hell do you think positively about stealing from a family of lions! I mean, aren't they are the top of the food chain or something?"

Lucas flicked his ears in irritation and gently rolled his eyes. "There isn't really a "food chain" in Zootopia."

"But still!"

Flynn crossed his arms and tapped his fingers anxiously on his arm. "They could easily just eat me like I was some fuckin' snack!"

"Flynn, animals don't eat each other in Zootopia..."

"Bullshit."

"How! I've never heard of any mammal eating anyone here."

"You're just trying to make me feel safer."

"God, Flynn! Just take my word for it, alright? Mammals just don't eat each other here." Lucas flung his paws out to the side, exasperated. "It's immoral! Quit being so paranoid."

 _Immoral my ass..._ He thought with an inward groan.

Flynn sighed and glanced down at the backpack of supplies beside his feet and a feeling of unreadiness and anxiety filled his chest.

"Sorry. It's all just been slightly overwhelming..." He flattened his ears and looked back up to catch his friends annoyed expression turn into one of sympathy. "Do we have to do this tonight? Can't we wait until tomorrow or something?"

Lucas shook his head and began to roll up the outline, twisting an orange rubber band around the middle. "Mrs. White demanded that we take back that diamond before the end of this week. If we wait until tomorrow, she's gonna rat you out to the cops and you'll probably get thrown into jail for theft and some other made up shit."

He let the band snap tightly around the middle of the paper like an hourglass and he stuffed it into his own backpack. "She's so damn obstinate."

Flynn sighed reluctantly, wishing they could push back their heist back for at least one more day.

"I've noticed..." Flynn muttered quietly in response as he stared at the empty table, his mind drifting to the thought of what he would do if they were caught.

 _I'd never get out of jail. Mrs. White would ruin my life!_ He sighed before glancing back down at his backpack. _Not that I really have a life here anyways..._

He heard the rustle of Lucas sifting through his backpack as he pulled out the clothing they had bought for the robbery. Flynn groaned and began to do the same, unzipping his pack and pulling out the shirt, pants, underwear, and other accessories and placed them on the park table.

The hedges around them gave them privacy as they began to undress, politely facing away from each other as they stripped down to nothing. To Flynn, he didn't really feel naked. The fur covering his body covered what needed to be covered and that was enough to keep him from feeling awkward.

After a few minutes of struggle with stuffing himself into the spandex-underwear, he turned back to the table to grab the rest of his clothes. Lucas had already slipped into his pants and he gave Flynn a joking smirk.

"Having trouble there, bud?"

Flynn grabbed his pants and lifted a middle finger towards his friend. "I'm not used to this, man," he replied with a small huff. Lucas only chuckled and Flynn quickly slipped on the rest of his clothes, his ears twitching from the irritation of the fur on his body being folded in awkward directions.

A few minutes later, Flynn and Lucas were dressed up to their necks in black. Lucas's fur was naturally black, so he looked like a strange, three-dimensional shadow against the poorly lit hedges.

Conveniently, they wouldn't have to walk far to reach the Maine's mansion. It stood a few blocks away from the park so they wouldn't have to travel too long in their suspicious attire. Flynn pulled out the walkie-talkie from the backpack's side pouch and he slipped the earpiece into his right ear.

He turned the dial on the top of the device and glanced up to Lucas who did the same.

"Testing, testing," Flynn whispered into the built-in microphone, keeping his hands to his sides to test the no-button communication system. It would allow them to keep in constant communication without the hassle of pressing any buttons to send a few short words.

"I hear ya," Lucas responded with a small thumbs up, his voice sparking to life inside of Flynn's ear.

"Damn, that's sweet." Flynn grinned and flicked off his microphone.

Lucas smiled. "Yeah, pretty cool ain't it?" He agreed as he too flicked off his microphone and flung his pack over his shoulders.

Flynn nodded and did the same, pulling his bag over shoulders and snapping the buckles together over his chest. He glanced over to the entrance to the hedge wall, wincing as a small night breeze took a gentle breath into his face and brushed past his whiskers.

"Well, let's get it over with."

Flynn glanced back at his friend as Lucas pulled on his hat and mask all the while taking a few steps towards the exit. Flynn groaned and followed suit, pulling on the beanie over his ears with his hood and strapping the mask over his muzzle.

They decided to take the route to the Maine's mansion with a light jog, avoiding street lamps and running across the lawns of sleeping mammal's houses. The moon's light was mostly covered by the silver outlined clouds that littered the sky, keeping them in the dark.

Flynn could tell they were nearing their destination as the homes slowly became much larger and more expensive looking, with tall pillars and neatly trimmed grass yards.

After about ten minutes of jogging, Lucas slowly came to a stop behind a tall wooden fence of a smaller, but still spendy-looking, brick house with all of its lights shut off.

Flynn flicked on his radio as Lucas pointed across the street to a large sand brick mansion with pearly white pillars that stretched over a large wooden doorway to hold up a matching shingled roof with multiple skylights. All of the lights were shut off and the wide yard surrounding it was darkened by the slowly decreasing number of street lamps. A large black metal fence with pointed tips that blended with the night time atmosphere surrounded the property and enclosed the mansion from the rest of the neighborhood.

The radio in Flynn's ear sizzled to life as Lucas spoke into his microphone, "that's is right there. The big one with the giant pillars." He glanced back at his smaller friend and reached out a black-gloved paw, "you ready?"

Flynn swallowed the uncomfortable knot down his throat and quickly clapped theor paws together in a quick paw-shake. He sighed and nodded, "Yeah, as ready as I'll ever be."

Lucas flicked his tail, he seemed to feel a lot more confident than Flynn felt. "Alright, let's get it."

Together, they both hustled across the dimly lit street, pushing past the glow of the last light post and pulling around the side of the Maine's property. Slipping into the protection of the shadow of the house, Lucas unzipped his backpack to pull out the conveniently foldable step ladder. Once they had reached a point perpendicular to the back of the house, Lucas stopped and dropped the ladder at the base of the fence.

Since he was taller, Lucas scaled the fence first. As quietly as possible, he gripped the top metal bar and hauled himself over the top and threw his legs over the side. The well-kept lawn softened his fall and helped silence the impact.

Flynn hopped onto the top of the step ladder and waited for Lucas to turn around and stick his paws through the fence like another step.

"Here." Lucas folded his paws together and Flynn quickly stepped onto his palms and hoisted himself high enough to grab the top bar and pull himself over the fence to land beside his friend.

The trek across the freshly mowed lawn to the back of the house wasn't a very long one and Flynn could see the back door from his angle of view. It was a glass sliding door, just like the outline had shown.

Avoiding the motion activated light on the side of the home, Flynn and Lucas shuffled in a wide arc through the yard and towards the door. Flynn felt uncomfortably exposed in the empty and spacious backyard and he pulled his mask farther over his muzzle in an attempt to diminish the overwhelming sense of apprehension.

Flynn took a deep breath as they neared the back door. It was larger than he had expected, though he should have guessed the mansion would have been built for larger mammals. He could see a single light that was left on in the basement and it filtered gently through the glass and onto the small cement padio.

With the help of the light, Flynn could clearly see a surrounding portion of the basement. It was a dream man-cave and Flynn felt a small sense of disappointment with his circumstances as he stared at it in wishful longing. A large pool table stood proudly in one excluded corner of the room beside a lengthy wooden bar that clung to the wall beside it, red cushioned bar stools sat comfortably beside its smooth body and the light reflected crisply off of its rounded edges.

The light seemed to be emitting from an unoccupied bathroom across from the sliding door. A tan painted wall cut off Flynn's view of the hallway it was connected to and an expensive, plush, leathery couch with multiple arm rests, and convenient cup holders, was lined neatly against it.

On the far left wall, across from the couch, was a wide projector screen that hung from the white popcorn-textured ceiling. Flynn assumed there must be a projector above the couch somewhere and he immediately began to think of how awesome it would be to host a Superbowl party in this house.

Soft brown carpet extended across the entirety of the basement, giving the room a cozy look beside all of its expensive belongings. Flynn even noticed a dart board hanging beside the pool table.

"Holy shit! This place is awesome..." Flynn whispered, half to himself.

"No kidding." Luke's voice sizzled into his earpiece and reminded Flynn that they were connected via their radios.

Flynn set out to inspect the basement again, his eyes wandering through the room as Lucas quietly crept next to the doors plastic handle. His height allowed him to reach the handle semi-easily, while Flynn was stuck staring up at it, a few feet short.

Lucas gave the door a small tug and it clicked gently as the lock held it in place. "Damn." Luke muttered before he promptly stuffed a paw into his pocket to retrieve the lock pick.

Flynn waited patiently beside him, keeping a close eye on the inside of the house. He silently prayed nobody would enter the basement and see them trying to break in. If they were seen now, there would be no means of getting back inside.

He noticed that the furniture looked just as oversized as the door and Flynn began to feel as small as a mouse against the mansion, which led him to think how tiny an actual mouse in felt in Zootopia.

Click.

Flynn's ears perked as the sound of the door unlocking pulled him out of his focused watch and he glanced over to see Lucas pulling out a thin metal tab from the side of the door.

"That was easier than I thought it would be..." Lucas whispered as he stuffed the tool back into his pocket. "I literally just had to lift that little hook thingy and-"

"Luke, just open the door." Flynn interrupted impatiently. Now that they actually had a way inside of the house, his heart rate was beginning to climb.

"Right, my bad." Lucas quickly gripped the plastic handle and began to slowly ease open the doorway, making sure to slide it in small segments to keep the door from squeaking.

Once he had opened the door just enough for them to slide into the house individually, Lucas turned sideways and sidestepped inside.

After taking a large breath, Flynn followed suit, shuffling through the door and onto the basement's soft carpet.

The gleam from the bathroom light gave Lucas's tall form a dark silhouette as he toe stepped towards the wall beside the couch.

From what Flynn could remember, the stairs to the first floor were at the end of the hallway that the wall hid from view.

He quickly, but softly, pressed his gloved paws against the glass and pushed shut the door behind him, as to not give any clues that they were inside. Then he swiftly made his way beside Lucas who was peering around the wall into the hallway.

Lucas turned to Flynn and pointed upwards, "there's a camera above the door."

 _Shit_ , Flynn thought with dread as he peeked around his friend and into the hallway.

As Lucas had said, a camera pointed straight down the hallway from above the open doorway from the stairs to the basement. There were two doors, one on each side, in the hallway. Luckily, both were closed. They supposedly led to the rooms of two of the Maine's cubs.

He turned back and raised flicked his ears in thought. "We can't avoid it," he whispered, his voice transmitting through the radio.

"Mhm..." Lucas muttered softly. "Let's just send it. We're covered up for a reason."

Flynn sighed in response. They had wanted to avoid as many cameras as possible, only those details weren't included in the outline, so they had decided to deal with the issue when they reached it.

"I'll go first." Flynn said softly. Lucas nodded in reply and Flynn took it as a signal to move. Slowly, Flynn stepped out from the cover of the wall and into the hallway. His heart began to pound in his chest and blood pumped through his ears as his nervousness pulsed through his body. Moving as rapidly as he could without making a sound, he lunged towards the doorway, gripping its frame as he tilted his head up to check the stairway.

The stairs were covered with the same soft carpet as the rest of the basement and Flynn could see the first floor through another doorway at their summit.

He peeked back to watch as Lucas tiptoed down the hallway to stand on the adjacent side of the doorway and give a small nod.

Flynn looked back up the stairs to the main floor and took a deep breath in an attempt to cool his nerves. He glanced across at Lucas and motioned towards the stairs with a nod of his head. "You go first this time," he whispered.

Lucas only shrugged in response and he turned to climb the stairs without hesitation, stretching out and using all four limbs to space out his weight so he wouldn't put too much pressure on one step and cause it to creak.

Once he had made it nearly half way up the steps, Flynn slowly followed suit, mimicking his friend and using his front paws to ease out the weight of his back paws, and gently waddled up the large steps.

He could feel his tail swaying gently behind him with each step as it brushed against his heels and he made a conscious effort to keep it lifted a few inches above his feet. Even though he had grown used to having a tail over the past week, he still occasionally tripped over it. He didn't want to make the same mistake here.

Every swish from his paws on the carpet seemed uncomfortably loud to his ears and he could hear his pulse pumping louder through his chest the closer he climbed to the main floor.

He stopped a few steps away from Lucas as he halted at the top doorway and cautiously poked his head around the sides to check out the first floor. Flynn stayed as motionless as possible, not wanting to cause any unnecessary noise.

After a multitude of long and uneasy seconds, Lucas turned to give Flynn a casual thumbs up, "it's clear, let's get goin'."

Flynn nodded and followed his friend over the top of the stairs and onto the glossy wooden floors of the main story of the mansion.

The main floor was just as impressive, if not more impressive, than the basement. The doorway had opened up to a large and open hall with tan coated walls that were stained white by the moon's light that broke through a large pair of windows on the both far ends of the space atop of the second story above.

The ceilings rose high into the air, allowing for the windows to show natural light into the hall for the first and second floors.

Directly ahead of them stood a wall which held a rising staircase with a carved wooden railing that was capped with a gold metal top and sloped up towards the third story of the home.

Hanging on the wall was an assortment of expensive looking wines on an elegant metal hanger, several feet from the ground, probably the perfect height for a Lion's reach.

Each end of the hall broke away into separate open spaces, one being what looked like a family room and the other being an opening into the kitchen and dining room.

From what Flynn could remember about the outline, if he and Lucas rounded either of the corners of the hall, they would turn to find a large entertainment room for the first floor. It was designed to have access to both the kitchen and the family room.

Flynn glanced over to Lucas as he gently tapped his shoulder and whispered into his radio, "let's go." Flynn nodded and moved to follow the wolf as he turned to his right and began to shuffle quietly towards the kitchen.

Their shadows slithered silently behind them, lining the walls and polished floors as they crept around the corner, the moonlight from another large window beaming over their bodies.

The kitchen looked similar to Mrs. White's, with a granite island counter and a separate wooden dining table. The sleek silver appliances reflected shards of light into Flynn's eyes and he did his best to focus on the pale outline of Lucas as he tiptoed through the tall cabinets.

His ears twitched with every step that threatened to creak the flooring and he took large breaths to try and calm down his nerves that were beginning to make him shiver uncomfortably.

The atmosphere of the house was unnerving and sent shiver down tail. It was as silent as a cemetery and any sound made felt like it echoed through the halls and straight into the ears of the clueless family of lions that slept peacefully in their beds.

And fact that neither he or Lucas could avoid the constant eye of multiple cameras watching their every move didn't help him dismiss the paranoid feeling of getting caught.

The open space that flowed out from the kitchen was what they had expected, a guest entertainment room and second family room. The wood floors surrounded the perimeter of the room and then gently stepped down into a fluffy carpeted area with a wide U-shaped leathery couch and glass coffee table with a vase of carefully placed flowers.

On the wall in front of the couch was a large plasma screen TV on top of a wooden TV cabinet that matched the surrounding floors. Above the couch was a fancy crystal chandelier that hung safely by a golden chain. The crystals reflected patches of faded moonlight across the room, illuminating the floors and walls with blotches of pale white light.

Along either side of the TV Cabinet were large glass trophy cases that held an assortment of items that looked distorted by the darkened center of the room as the light from the surrounding windows was cut off by thick curtains, only light from the open kitchen windows bouncing off the chandelier entered the room.

Lucas stopped as he reached the carpet to point towards the left set of trophy cases and glance back at Flynn, "I'll check this side, you check the other."

Flynn nodded and quickly, but quietly, migrated to the right side of trophy cases, while Lucas veered off to the left.

He sweeped around the corner of the couch and he began scanning over the items inside the case before he reached it. Most of the items seemed like old, framed, athletic awards and trophies while a few items seemed like souvenirs and collectors items.

With the dim lighting, it was hard for Flynn to make out what most of them were, even with his improved vision, so he quickly unclipped his flashlight from the side of his backpack and flicked it on once he had gotten closer to the case, the click of the button echoing in his ears while the flashlight cast a white beam of light towards the glass covering.

He ignored the bulk collection of trophies in the center of the case and moved to inspect the assortment of random items closest to the TV. He angled the flashlight downwards as its reflection off the glass made it difficult to see some of the items.

 _This guy must travel a shit ton.._. Flynn thought to himself as he noticed that each item was also placed beside a picture of Mr. Maine and his family huddled together in the location they had gotten it.

"Aw, that's adorable..." He whispered as he saw a stand-alone picture of what appeared to be the youngest cub of the Maine family standing on top of a large boulder over a vast expanse of trees and mountains, the picture itself must have been taken on some sort of mountain as well.

He was wearing a tan explorers cap and vest with a huge smile across his muzzle as he pressed his paws to his hips and beamed happily down at the camera.

Flynn noticed a small paper label with bold print marking the place, "Lion's Peak."

As Flynn lifted his flashlight to inspect a few more items above his height, he heard a small buzz of static fizz through his earpiece.

Lucas's voice sifted through the sound as he turned to peek at his friend who was frantically motioning for Flynn to come to his side while pointing his flashlight towards the case.

"I found it! Flynn, I found it!" Flynn could hear and see Lucas's excitement and he hurriedly made his way to him, careful not to create any extra noise as he stepped down onto the carpet to dampen the sound of his pawsteps.

"There, on the second shelf." Lucas whispered as he pointed his free paw at an object about Flynn's eye level.

Flynn cautiously stepped back off the carpet and peered into the trophy case, wincing past the light to see a small diamond, about the size of a small cub's paw, sitting proudly in a velvet padded, silver plated case that resembled an engagement ring box.

Flynn's tail twitched, slightly disappointed by what he saw.

"Huh," he stated with a raised brow, "I thought it'd be bigger..."

"That's what she said," Lucas chuckled as he shrugged off his backpack and gently removed the lock pick.

Flynn grinned under his mask and glanced back towards the kitchen as Lucas flicked through the tools on the pick, a paranoid and cold, anxious feeling of being watched burrowed past his friends calming humor into his shoulders as he started feeling impatient.

"Lucas, hurry up," he whispered as his eyes slowly scanned the silhouettes of the kitchen counters and surrounding walls for anything unusual.

"Relax, Flynn," Lucas replied as he flipped open the tool he needed, "here, hold the flashlight towards the lock for me."

Flynn tore his gaze away from the kitchen and did what Lucas asked, angling his flashlight towards the lock near the TV cabinet.

It was a swinging door and the diamond was conveniently placed close to the TV and the small circular lock, which was small and was aligned with the second shelf as to allow an undisturbed view of the items inside the trophy case.

Flynn watched carefully as Lucas got to work on the lock, inserting a thin hook into the keyhole.

As he studied the tools more closely, he noticed that they, more-or-less, resembled tools he would compare to those at the dentist, with tiny hooks and odd shapes at their ends connected to a wide handle near their base.

Flynn had to bar himself from constantly urging his friend to try faster, or to make less noise as he felt as if each click and quiet rattle the tool made could be the sound that awoke one of the Maine's and screwed everything up.

Even though none of the Lion's slept on the floor they were currently on, the sounds still made him feel uncomfortable.

"Fuck..." Lucas groaned as he leaned closer to the lock, his movements becoming more stiff by frustration as it refused to cooperate.

Flynn switched the flashlight into his other paw to rest his arm a little, giving Lucas a nervous glare as his friend's tail began to flick uneasily.

"Maybe try a different tool?" He suggested, keeping his voice low as he did his best to stay calm and still.

"No, no. I know this is the right tool," Lucas answered, his fingers slowly working together as he concentrated on the keyhole now almost a paw length away from his muzzle, "I've just gotta-"

He was interrupted by a small and noticeably different click as he turned the tool gently to the right, unlocking the door.

"Yes!" Flynn heard him whisper in success as they both took a few steps back to give the door room to swing open.

Flynn quickly stepped around Lucas and carefully lifted and closed the diamond in its case, a sense of relief spilling through his body as they were one step closer to getting out of the house.

"Quick, put it in my backpack," Lucas ordered as he cautiously knelt down to slowly unzip his bag and opened it up for Flynn to set the diamond inside.

He quickly stuffed the silver case into the bag on top of Lucas's clothes and miscellaneous equipment before lifting his paws up and allowing his friend to zip it closed, holding the flashlight above his friend to give him enough light to see the zippers.

As his friend focused on silently closing the bag, Flynn lifted his gaze up to glance back at the kitchen, his heart restarting its attack of pounding against his rib cage as he scanned the room for any signs of the Maine's.

He paused as he noticed something out of place. A silhouette of a small wire along the floor protruded out from the base of a length of kitchen cabinets, something Flynn hadn't noticed on their way inside the room.

He felt his ears try to perk out from beneath his beanie as he quickly rose the flashlight away from the backpack and towards the kitchen counters.

He felt his gut drop as he saw the wire quickly lift out of eyesight as soon as the light hit it, but Flynn had gotten a long enough glimpse of it to know that what he had seen wasn't a wire.

A wire doesn't have fur or faded spots.

"Lucas, we need to go." Flynn quickly shut off his flashlight and leaned over to repeatedly tap Lucas's shoulder, never removing his eyes from the kitchen cabinets.

"Well, Obvious-hey! Will you cut that out?" Lucas growled as he smacked Flynn's paw away from him, "just chillax!"

Flynn began to frantically point towards the kitchen cabinets, muttering through clamped teeth into his radio, "there's someone there!"

Lucas's tail visibly stiffened as he followed Flynn's gaze to the kitchen, his demeanor stiffening as well as he slowly pulled his backpack back onto his shoulders.

Flynn could hear his blood pulsating through his ears and felt it pound through his body as his adrenaline began to spike back up, warming up as his body as he glanced down to Lucas.

Lucas met his gaze and began to signal with his paws for Flynn to go check out the kitchen, pointing at him and then using two fingers in an "I'm watching you" motion towards the cabinets.

"Me?" Flynn whispered, swiveling his gaze between Lucas and the kitchen, "I'm like four feet tall! What am I supposed to do against a fucking lion?" He spoke so softly he couldn't tell if Lucas could hear him, even through the radio.

Lucas groaned and whispered under his breath, "shut up and go! I'm right behind you." Lucas stood up behind Flynn, who growled to himself in response.

After a small push by Lucas, Flynn slowly began to move, taking each step as if even the lightest pressure would make the whole house creak.

P _lease be my imagination_... He repeated in his head as he stepped onto the carpeted area, sliding past the couch and using the soft floors to kill the sounds of his steps, though he swore whoever was hiding in the kitchen could hear his heart hammering through his chest.

He felt the blood pumping in his finger tips as his heart picked up speed and his breaths quickened with each step closer to the cabinets. He rubbed his thumb gently against the flashlights on-button, ready to catch their stalker by surprise as he stepped off the carpet and back onto the wooden floors beside the cabinets.

He brushed his paw gently over the side of the cabinets, and peeked back to see Lucas a few steps behind. His friend gave him an encouraging nod and Flynn took a small, shaky breath to calm himself down.

 _Here it goes_... He thought to ready himself mentally as he looked back at the side of the cabinets, digging his feet against the floors and bending his knees as he got ready to jump the corner.

Without another second of hesitation, Flynn sprung himself around the other side of the cabinets and shot on his flashlight towards the inside of the kitchen. The light beamed across the cabinets and the curled up mammal against them.

Flynn felt his adrenaline and fear peak as he saw a Lion Cub dressed in blue, space footy pajamas reel back and cover his eyes in terror and blindness from the sudden flash of light, and he immediately recognized the cub as the one in the picture had seen earlier.

The Cub squeaked out in fear, throwing his paws defensively outward as if Flynn was pointing a gun to his face, "no! Don't hurt-"

Before the cub could finish his plea, Flynn quickly dove for him, pressing a paw over the small cub's mouth and violently shushing him as he put his flashlight face down to hide the light.

"Shush, quiet!" He whispered, basically pulling the cub into an aggressive, but cautious, hug as he tried to carefully hold him still and keep him quiet as he tried to squirm away. His overload in adrenaline helped with the difficult task as the cub was just his size, if not bigger.

Flynn felt some of the pressure of the Cub's movements disappear as Lucas rounded the corner and gently held the cub still by the shoulders.

Flynn's ears twitched in guilt as he heard the Cub begin to sniffle underneath his gloved paw and he began to try and quietly reassure him of his safety. "Hey, kid, you'll be fine. Just be quiet, please? Please be quiet..." He could see the Cub's eye begin to tear up and he averted his gaze to try and stuff the feeling away.

"Fuck... Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Flynn raised a brow at Lucas as his friend cursed repeatedly, keeping his voice down to an aggressive whisper as stared at the cub with a nervous and anxious glare.

"What're we supposed t-"

Lucas visibly flinched as a prolonged creak of a door opening on the second story interrupted him, and Flynn felt a flash of terror, which he suspected was equivalent to what the cub must have felt, dig into his bones.

"Shit!" Flynn swore as he quickly shuffled deeper into the cover of the kitchen, pulling the Cub with him. He felt a vibrating voice against his paw as the Cub began to squirm and tried yelling through his glove, which thankfully muffled his cries.

"Quiet!" Lucas quickly pressed a paw against the lion's nose, temporarily cutting off the cub's breath so he would stop making noise.

Flynn winced as he heard the cub gag before going silent, the young mammal's ears pinning against his head reflexively. Lucas removed his paw from the cub's nose as the sound of large pawsteps creaked across the second floor towards the steps.

Flynn locked eyes with Lucas and he saw a matched fear in his gaze. "Lucas, what do we do?" He whispered.

"I don't know! You tell me!" Lucas whispered back seemingly angry, before peering over the countertop.

Flynn's body began to stutter as his mind was forced to evaluate the situation over his urge to panic and run. He thought back to the outline for any quick routes out of the house that were close to the kitchen.

 _If we went back down the stairs, the lion'll see us..._ He thought as he peered around Lucas towards the direction they had entered the main floor. The stairs had a clear view of the basement door.

 _We can't go through the front door either..._

Flynn about ready to say, "fuck it" and run for the basement when he remembered something from the outline.

"Lucas!" He whispered, grabbing his friend's attention.

Lucas glanced back over his shoulder at Flynn with a raised brow.

Flynn tilted his head towards the back of the kitchen, "the garage! If we get into the garage, we could open up the front gates of the fence from inside, and escape the house through the garage door."

Flynn watched as Lucas paused to process the plan himself, his friend's tail twitching in thought.

Lucas began to nod, "that'll work."

"Hello? Who's here?"

A deep voice from the second floor echoed throughout the house, causing the fear in Flynn's chest to begin reverberating across his body and he clamped his muzzle shut and tucked himself deeper into the shadows of the kitchen.

Lucas did the same, ducking down below the countertops and turning to stare at the cub in Flynn's arms. "What about the cub?"

"Shit," Flynn mentally slapped himself in the face. The cub had just heard everything they had just planned. If they let him go, he would just pass on the escape route straight to his parents.

"William? Are you stealing out of the candy tray again?" The voice, which Flynn assumed to obviously be the cub's father, spoke out again, this time a little closer to the steps than before. "What did I say about taking something without asking?"

William began to whimper under Flynn's paw and his tears were beginning to slide down onto his gloves. Flynn felt the guilt slam back into his chest and he tried desperately to shush the cub as quietly as he could.

"Shush, shh," he said into William's ear, hoping the cub would listen while Lucas slowly peered back over the counter.

Flynn felt an uncomfortable poking against his side and his mind was brought back to the taser on his hip.

 _No, I can't tase him..._ He thought, pissed at himself that he would even think of doing so.

 _But maybe I could trick him..._

"William?" The lion's voice pierced into Flynn's ears from the stairs and he felt his pulse spike up a notch.

Quickly, he removed the taser from his hip and held it out to the side of William's vision.

"William? Is that your name?" He whispered back into the cub's ear, doing his best to hide his own fear and sound somewhat intimidating. William nodded sharply in reply, his eyes turned to try and get a look at the taser in Flynn's paw.

"Ok, William. I'm holding a bomb," Flynn lied, shaking the taser gently from side to side as he felt the cub stiffen in his hold. Lucas had turned to stare at him, obviously confused at first, before he nodded, letting Flynn know that he understood what he was doing.

Flynn could feel the panic rising up his back as he heard the footsteps of William's father begin to creak down the steps towards the main floor. "William? Are you down there?"

Flynn began to speak faster, rushing his words as Lucas eagerly motioned for him to finish up. "I'm gonna let you go," he said, his voice shaking as his adrenaline began to build and mix with the panic. He felt William grow still at his words. "But, if you tell your parents that we were here, I'm going to blow your house up," Flynn pulled the taser out of the cub's sight, "do you understand?"

William began to nod, whimpering quietly while his tail twitched nervously against Flynn's side.

Flynn and Lucas both flinched as the hallway to the basement door was suddenly illuminated by a singular ceiling light. Flynn's words got caught in his throat as he saw the shadow of a large lion slowly making its way down the bottom few steps.

"Ok." Flynn managed to finished and opened his arms, releasing his hold on the cub. Immediately, William stumbled away from his grasp, pushing off of Flynn's chest and barreling past Lucas, his pawsteps smacking across the floors as he rushed away from his captors.

Flynn stuffed the taser away and stood up beside Lucas, peering out from behind the counter to watch as the cub ran towards the stairs. Flynn held his breath, he could see Mr. Maine standing near the base of the steps with a confused frown at his cub as William launched himself into his father's legs and wrapped his arms around the older lion in a sudden and sob filled hug.

He seemed taller and more intimidating than most lions Flynn had seen, even in his plaid pajamas.

"William..?"

As Mr. Maine began to speak. Lucas grabbed onto Flynn's shirt and began to pull him out the opposite end of the kitchen, "hurry! Let's go while he's distracted!"

Flynn quickly turned to follow, moving as fast as he could without making any extra sound.

He could hear William's sniffles and incoherent mutters as his father's deep voice continued to echo over the sound of their pawsteps, "Will, what's wrong? Why're you so upset?"

Flynn felt a miniscule rush of relief as they made it out of the kitchen and out of sight of the Maine's, but his heart continued to slam against his ribs as they slipped into the small hallway that lead to the door of the garage.

His ears twitched underneath his beanie. He could hear soft, sniffle-filled phrases from William, but he couldn't make out what the cub was saying.

"What do you mean? I don't see anybody else..."

 _Fuck!_ Flynn felt his heart slam into his throat at Mr. Maine's words. He began to walk faster, throwing aside some of his caution to try and reach the garage door a fraction of a second faster.

Lucas reached the door first and began to slowly twist the handle.

"In the kitchen? Now?"

 _Shit!_ Flynn felt shivers of fear scream down his spine and his heels started to bounce nervously as Mr. Maine mentioned the kitchen which was in direct view of the garage door.

He heard a small click from the door and a small curse from Lucas. "Dammit, I didn't unlock it!"

Flynn glanced over his shoulder as he heard the creaking of pawsteps from the hallway behind him and he saw Mr. Maine's shadow quickly growing taller against the wall tan wall.

"Just open it!" Flynn demanded as he twisted around, reaching for the door handle a few feet away from his height as Lucas turned a small dial to unlock the door.

Lucas grabbed the handle first and pushed open the door just as Flynn heard a pause in the footsteps behind them.

"Hey! Stop!" Mr. Maine's raised voice stabbed into his chest and the bounce of the floorboards bending from the power of the Lion's rapid steps fueled his own feet with adrenaline.

Flynn didn't bother to glance back as he squeezed past Lucas in the doorway, rushing into the garage with his friend on his heels.

He turned back and he drew a quick enough glimpse of the hallway to see the large mained mammal bounding towards them before Lucas slammed the door shut behind him.

Flynn lost sight of his friend as the door shut off any light into the garage from inside of the mansion. A loud bang from the door caused Flynn to jump in his place a muffled growl from inside the house that followed made the hairs on the back of his neck tingle with fear.

"Flynn! Turn the fucking lights on!" Lucas yelled as another bang from the door erupted from the dark.

Immediately, Flynn started running his paws along the walls, searching for a light switch. He had noticed that most buildings had slightly lowered light switches for the convenience of smaller mammals, like himself.

Miraculously, he felt a small switch brush against his fingertips and he quickly jumped and pushed the switch up from its place.

There was a dull flick as the lights in the garage flashed on, lighting up the large room just as Mr. Maine collided into the door again.

Lucas was leaning heavily against the doorway, pushing his feet against the smooth and polished concrete floors as he desperately tried to keep the door shut.

Flynn noticed three thin buttons about eye level with Lucas as he braced against the door and he quickly concluded that they must open the garage doors.

"Luke, get the garage doors!" Flynn yelled out, pointing up to direct his friend.

Lucas rapidly followed Flynn's directions, turning his head to see the buttons and reaching out a lightning fast smack against the nearest one.

At the same moment Lucas smacked the button, Mr. Maine made another attempt to smash through the door.

As the first garage door began to open, a loud and low buzz echoing through the garage as it did so, a large crack erupted from the deteriorating door to the house as it burst open, throwing Lucas towards Flynn while sending an unbalanced a pajama dressed lion tumbling into the garage.

With no time to move, Flynn fell back as his larger friend tumbled on top of him with a pained grunt.

A spike of pain from his back ramming against his backpack as he fell onto the cement floor and his head bouncing back from the recoil of the fall forced a yelp out of his own muzzle and Flynn was left dazed beneath Lucas for a few seconds.

Lucas's black form obstructed his vision as he struggled to untangle himself from the wolf, who was desperately trying to do the same.

A low growl from overhead sent panic throbbing down his gut as they managed to roll off of each other, returning Flynn's senses about the situation as a growing headache began to build across the back of his skull.

 _Shit!_

Flynn's eyes widened in fear and regret fizzled across every hair on his body as he saw Mr. Maine pushing himself back onto his feet from his own fall beside an expensive looking, red, convertible vehicle that Flynn could only compare to a strange convertible Camaro.

A cold night breeze brushed against his body from the open garage door as he began to put space between him and the lion, shuffling on his back in the opposite direction while Lucas began to do the same, his paws slipping on the ground as their gloved bodies slid against the glistening pavement.

A low, rumbling growl bubbled from Mr. Maine's throat. His tail began to lash back and forth as he stood up straight, staring down with cold, infuriated brown eyes that threatened to smash both Flynn and Lucas with their petrifying intensity.

Flynn felt his heart rate climb even farther than it already had, digging into his ribs and rising in his throat as he tried to swallow away his terror that was forcing its way through his bones.

"H-Hey, pal! Look, this-this is a big misunderstanding!" Lucas began to falter, his words fumbling desperately out of his mouth as Mr. Main began to stomp dangerously towards them, his pawsteps pounding against the cement with his claws scraping along with each footfall.

The lion ignored Lucas, his ears flicking away his words like they were an irritating fly. His shadow began to darken the patch of ground Flynn clung to as he stared up at the silhouette of the beast of a mammal, his body becoming paralyzed as a thousand mixed emotions and thoughts smashed through his brain.

Mostly Terror, regret, anger at Mrs. White and the diamond boiled in his gut as he began to shake from the thought of what Mr. maine would do to them.

 _This was so stupid! We're gonna die!_ He thought as he shut his eyes and started to brace for the worst, expecting claws or teeth to tear into his flesh at any moment.

His ear's twitched as he heard a small click from his belt as his taser's grip rubbed against the ground, making his tail stiffen as he once again remembered the weapon.

He opened his eyes and without a second thought or hesitation, Flynn twisted his body and unclipped the holster. He felt the rough grain of the grip against his pads and he hoisted it off of his belt, knowing it was loaded and ready to fire.

In an instant, he had the taser pointed directly towards Mr. Maine and his finger resting firmly around the trigger. He caught a look of confusion peel out of the lion's aggressive expression, a silent "oh" forming in his lips while his ears perked up from behind his mane.

Flynn felt his throat fill with a sudden growl as he released the safety and squeezed the trigger, his eyes locked on Mr. Maine as he felt a miniscule recoil of the needle-like projectiles propel themselves from the end of the taser.

An ear splitting crackling noise sparked from the cartridge as wires of electricity shot out from the weapon and lodged themselves into Mr. Maine's chest.

Flynn watched in stunned silence as the lion stiffened with a quick, but cut off, bark of pain from the volts of electricity surging through his body. The lion's tail and paws fluttered sporadically and he began to tip over, his body falling like a large tree being cut down at its base.

Mr. Maine hit the ground with a sickening thud, his body bouncing off the pavement as the electricity stopped its attack on his body. A few seconds of dull silence filled the garage, only the growing sound of distant police sirens echoing in the streets broke through it. Flynn stared in shock at the lion at his feet, his tail trembling as a single, irrational and paranoid thought reverberated through his head.

 _Fuck, please don't be dead.._

* * *

 _There you have it! I cut this chapter into two parts so I could post something sooner than later. I've already started writing the second part, so that should be ready to post in the next week or so. Again, I apologize for another long wait. I hope you enjoyed this extensive, 9,000+ word chapter and are excited for the next part of it!_

 _Thanks and enjoy your day!_


	8. Chapter 7: The Diamond: Part 2 - Escape

_It's been a long time, but I figured I might as well publish what I have left of this story._

 _I began writing this story with the hope that it would give me something exciting and different to write about. I was lacking motivation to continue writing my first story and I wanted to try and regain it by starting a new and interesting one._

 _After a long time of never touching either one of my stories, I began to feel bad about leaving them unfinished. I apologize if I excited anyone with a new story just to leave it grounded before it could take off._

 _I kind of just left the stories to hang dry with no conclusion._

 _So, with that being said, if anyone would like to continue either of my stories, I give out my full permission to do so. I apologize again for dropping them, but maybe someone else with more motivation than myself can continue them and make them better._

 _Thank you, apologies, and farewell,_

 _Pufflemuffin_

 **The Diamonds: Part Two - Escape**

The sound of police sirens began echoing through the streets, making Flynn's ears buzz in trepidation as he stared across the floor at the stunned Lion, his taser slipping from his paws and onto the floor with a plastic clash against the cement.

"Holy shit!"

Flynn glanced over to see Lucas pushing himself up to his feet, his friend's eyes locked on Mr. Maine as a pained groan emitted from the lion's body.

"I didn't even _think_ about tasing the guy!" The wolf stated, his eyes swiveling back down to Flynn, who was still sitting quietly on the garage floor. "That's some good shit, dude."

Lucas glanced back at Mr. Maine, who was still lying dazed on the ground, "I didn't think those things would work that well..."

Flynn shook his head, pushing his shock out of his brain as he hurriedly rolled up to a standing position, the sounds of the nearing sirens rebuilding the rush in his blood.

"We gotta get outta here, I think someone called the-"

"Dad!"

Flynn paused as the sound of a cub's smaller voice interrupted him, and William tumbled out the nearly shattered door to the house.

The cub came to a sliding stop beside his father, bumping into the larger lion's side in a tiny and fearful hug, completely ignoring the trespassers that had held him captive nearly minutes ago.

Flynn felt a rough nudge against his shoulder as Lucas gave him a quick punch to grab his attention.

"Hey, let's get going!" He urged, hurriedly shuffling towards the open garage door.

Flynn pushed aside his concern and quickly followed his friend, cautiously arcing around the sniffling lion cub and the slowly rehabilitating Mr. Maine.

As he did so, he was able to get a good look at the garage around him. It was a clean space, cleaner than most garages, and it was rimmed with large cabinets and wooden work shelves.

The plethora of car posters and travel maps hung along the finished white walls gave the impression that the family did in fact drive the vehicles they collected, and there were many of them.

He noticed three freshly washed motorcycles parked side by side in front of the farthest door, while the family managed to park two cars, front to back, in front of the other two. All of the vehicles were too large for Flynn to even think about driving and it made him feel even smaller than he already felt.

The more expensive or antique the car, the closer to the garage door it stood, most likely for showing off to the public when the doors were open.

By the time Flynn had made his way out of the garage door and past the large convertible, Lucas was halfway down the driveway in a dead sprint for the open gates at the entrance of the house, his body seeping into the shadows around him as the light from the garage only leaked out halfway down the driveway.

Realizing how behind he was, Flynn quickened his pace trying his best to catch up to his friend, his backpack throwing its weight side to side and slowing his strides.

He tightened the strap around his chest and barreled past the last few blocks of the driveway, the intensifying police sirens urging him on as he could see the flashing red and blue lights bouncing across rooftops only a few blocks away.

Flynn winced as he felt the driveway shift into the rough textured street underneath his feet, small unhinged pebbles poked through the black spandex around them as he bounded after Lucas.

His friend had already reached the sidewalk across the road and wasn't slowing down as he rushed out of view into the concealment of a red wooden fence that divided two neighboring houses.


	9. Extra Information

Also, if anyone would like any information on either one of my stories, please feel free to message me and ask! I will try and get back to you with as much info as I can.

I hope everyone has a great day!

Thanks, apologies, and farewell, again,

Pufflemuffin


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